


The Grenhil Pack

by AProper



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: ABO, Alpha - Freeform, Alpha Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Fantasy world setting, Multi, Omega Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Omegaverse, beta, omega - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 62,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22789324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AProper/pseuds/AProper
Summary: Omegaverse story with the Seventeen members. The story takes place in an alternative world, everyone can change from a human form to a wolf from. The story does not take place in a modern society.The Grenhil pack has lived in isolation for many years and does not want to be found for various reasons.The Vanghgard pack with their leader Soonyoung are determined to find their missing pack members that went missing while hunting in a forest.But that is only our starting point.Book 1 of the Grenhil series
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 90





	1. Prologue

Foreword  
THE GRENHIL PACK: Book 1

Prologue: Not today

He always knew that he was lucky to having been born in the Grenhil-clan and at this moment he realised it once again. Taking in the beautiful surroundings he stood a top of a cliff, tall mountains graced the horizon, their white tops glistening in a soft orange hue due to the morning sun. Beneath him he saw a little stream finding its way throughout the rough terrain, it’s edge graced with beautiful spring flowers. His eyes followed the water downhill until it disappeared behind a rock formation. He knew what was behind that, a little village with wooden cottages, situated at the edge of a small lake. In the middle of the village would be a slightly bigger round hut, the meeting hall. The village itself was full of trees, covering almost every empty spot except for the marketplace in front of the meeting hall. The trees helped to keep their home hidden from the observant eyes of other people. A bit farther down into a nearby valley would be their farmlands, right now the fields looked a bit empty except for the grass and the first crops that were starting to show. In a few months’ time they would have fresh fruits and vegetables again. 

A sudden noise caught his attention, he was not here to enjoy the view. Turning his eyes away from the view he started making his way back into the forest, careful with his steps as to not make a noise. His ears were focussed, trying to pick up any sound that was not natural to the forest. For a few seconds he couldn't hear anything except for the stream below him that rustled downhill. He started to fear that his cover was blown, maybe he needed to move and make his way out of here before he was discovered. Then he heard it! Footsteps. They still seemed far enough and he hoped that the other person had not heard him approaching. He kneeled down and that is when the smell hit him. It was not your average person approaching, it smelled like an alpha and from the scent that lingered in the air he could tell that it was probably a confident one at that. The alpha was in strange lands and did nothing to supress his scent whatsover. No he was deliberatly doing the exact opposite. 

As the footsteps were coming closer and the scent of the alpha grew even stronger, he scanned his surroundings again. Judging from the footsteps he had heard the other person was not in his wolf-form. Good he thought, fighting in human-form had always been his specialty. It was time to make a decision, and he moved to a nearby tree with a few quick steps, jumping up and raising himself onto the lowest branch of the tree. His body was used to climbing, every muscle trained, and so he climbed further with a few skilful movements. Once he reached the highest branches he settled down in a comfortable position and let his eyes roam across his surroundings. From his high-up position he saw the alpha crouching in the grass right below his own position.

A smirk graced his features as he muttered a soft “Gotcha!” 

He brought his hands up to his mouth and made a very high pitched whistle that sounded like the call of a firecrest. After that he continued watching the man below, who still unsuspecting of the situation he was currently in. Suddenly he heard another whistle that was repeated from different sides, surrounding him with the noise. They were almost in position. He repeated the soft whistle and suddenly the answering whistle came from multiple directions. It was time.

This place should be kept a secret, this was their land, kept hidden between the wide forests, undiscovered on the maps of the rest of the world. Their ancestors had chosen well when they decided to settle on edge of the lake. The place was hard to find, but it was even harder to leave the place once you find it. No one will be able to discover their safe haven and tell the world about it. No one will threaten their clan today and for sure not this alpha.


	3. Chapter two

Chapter two: The merchants town

The marketplace was buzzing with people, merchants were shouting above the noise praising their goods, out of the corner of his eye he saw a little boy try to pickpocket some unsuspecting omega discussing the price of a stinky rotten fish. The smell of livestock mixed with vegetables and fish penetrated his sensitive nose. The odour was almost enough to cause him to gag, not exactly pleasant if you asked him. In other words it was your typical trip to the market, if only he would be able to spot his packmates so that he could finally leave this old marketplace. Annoyed he stomped his leg on the ground, drawing the attention of some beta next to him. He heard him huff something among the lines of “stupid little kid” and immediately he snapped his head in the direction of the beta.

“I am not a kid.” He hissed through his teeth, clearly not very pleased with the accusation. The beta just looked at him and shrugged, continuing his way over the marketplace. The small omega continued scowling until he finally noticed an overly happy smiling face walking on the other side of the square. Finally!

“That took you long enough Seokmin! Are we finally ready to go meet our guy?” he asked the smiling man across from him.

“Easy little Jihoonie…” Seokmin started but he was interrupted by a quick jab in his rib cage followed by a “Don’t call me that.” From said Jihoonie. Rubbing his side Seokmin looked at the smaller man in front of him, if you took away the quick temper, the displeased look on his face and maybe taught him a few manners Jihoon would be cute. Even his scowling face looked cute to Seokmin and he had to resist pinching his brothers squishy cheeks. However he resisted the temptation, as doing so would most likely result in a lot of pain and having to sleep outside without any food. So instead the beta chose to put up a little grin and simply nodded.

Jihoon let out a sigh and signalled Seokmin to follow him, they still had to fetch the others before meeting with the pack leader of this stupid town. And that meeting was something Jihoon was not looking forward too. He still vividly remembered the last time he met the alpha, first of all the guy had the guts to call him cute, little and kid in one sentence. There are a only few things Jihoon hates in life, curry, getting up early and people calling him cute, little or anything that is close to resembling those words. At home everyone knows to avoid those words around him in order to survive, however when he visited this town, people did not understand that he might not like it when he was called shortie. 

And that stupid head alpha had managed to repeatedly call him small, short, cute, kiddo and fear and behold once he even called him a midget.The guy had dared to laugh at him! Even remembering their last meeting had Jihoon gritting his teeth in annoyance, oh how he would have liked to snap that guys neck. Sadly the guy was an alpha, the pack leader of this town, and they needed said guy in order to trade their goods. Finding a new trading partner would cost him way to much time.

With a few long strides he walked further, from time to time checking if Seokmin was still following him. His brother loved shopping in town and if you didn’t pay attention to him the merchants would take full advantage of his innocence by robbing him of every hard earned penny. It does not need much explaining that Seokmin is not allowed to have money with him when they enter town. One time he almost blew half of their money on some vest after the merchant said it was magical. How did he even believe that? Jihoon still wondered about that even though the incident had happened almost five years ago.

Finally they reached the inn where the rest of their merchant group was staying. He walked up to their room and gently knocked on the door, entering only after hearing a soft voice saying the door was open. “Jeonghan we have to go, please wake up Mingyu.” Jihoon said as he entered their room. From across him in the room he saw Jeonghan sitting on a chair near the window sipping on something that smelled vaguely like tea. Jihoon was still amazed every time he saw Jeonghan, he was for sure one of the prettiest guys he had ever met and Jihoon made sure to tell him this every so often. No one in their clan had been surprised when Jeonghan had presented himself as an omega and everyone had been so happy about out. Knowing Jeonghan for his whole life Jihoon knew exactly what would be coming next.

A grin formed on Jeonghans face while he silently got up from his chair and grabbed a bucket with fresh water that was already standing on the ground next to him. Seokmin who had entered the room behind Jihoon saw it happening and was already trying hard to supress his own laughter. Jeonghan looked like an angel, the perfect omega, but if only people knew how much of a prankster this guy was. Sure he could be a real angel, but not all the time. No one was kind all the time.

Slowly Jeonghan made his way over to the snoring figure on the bed before emptying the bucket right over the figures head.

“AAAHHHH!” With a loud scream Mingyu got up grabbing his pillow in the same motion and almost hitting Jeonghan with it, but the latter was able to duck just in time. “Why do you have to do that every single time!”

“You won’t wake up if we ask you nicely, last time that we tried that it cost us fifteen minutes to get you up and running. Now please get dressed we have to go.” Jihoon said from the spot where he was currently leaning against the doorpost.

“Also please be careful who you are hitting with that pillow, you really don’t know your own strength.” Jeonghan added.

Mingyu looked at his feet and mumbled something in the lines of how all omegas are evil and Jeonghan is the worst before he went over to the bathroom to change his clothes. The moment he left the room, Seokmin who had been suppressing his laughter for the last thirty seconds finally burst out laughing and in a few seconds Jihoon, Jeonghan chimed in as well. 

“Did you see his face!” Seokmin hickuped, “Priceless!” He had to wipe a tear from his eyes. “I can still hear you!” Mingyu’s voice beamed loudly from the bathroom. Which only resulting in even more laughter from the people in the room.

“So what is the plan this time little Jihoonie?” Jeonghan asked trying to control his laughter. Seokmin stopped laughing, amazed at the simple fact that Jeonghan could call Jihoon that without the latter getting one of his fits. 

“Hmm…” Jeonghan looked at Jihoon who was now staring out of the window. “There are a few new people on the market today that I don’t know.”

“Well, we don’t exactly come here every week so there could new townsman that we don’t recognize.” Jeonghan suggested, but Jihoon just shook his head.

“These are not townsman and I am pretty sure that these guys are no merchants either. Which merchant has to carry five different types of weaponry on his back? The townspeople are also looking at them weirdly… Let’s get moving quickly, I don’t trust this situation at all, we don’t want to get in any kind of trouble.” With those words Jihoon turned around on his heels and shouted towards the bathroom, “Mingyu hurry up! You won’t get handsomer anyways so stop wasting our time trying to fix every single strand of hair on your head! Every bonus point you score with your looks will be gone the moment you start talking anyways.”

Jeonghan moved towards the window scanning the surroundings and now he noticed it too. There seemed to be some kind of tension in the town that normally wasn’t there. His eyes spotted a group of heavily armoured people at the edge of the marketplace, gathering around a person that was talking while pointing a map that he was currently holding in his hands. Whatever they were doing, Jeonghan had to agree with Jihoon that the group was most likely not a part of your average merchant pack. He heard a door open and finally Mingyu showed his face, looking at Jihoon with an angry look on his face while muttering some curse words. Jihoon however was not paying him any attention, he had already grabbed all of their belongings and merchandise, getting ready to leave. Seokmin hoisted one of the other bags on his back and followed Jihoon out the door. With a sigh Jeonghan got a move on too, let’s go meet our favourite head alpha, he thought.

\---

One of the guards opened the door towards the townhall that connected them to the main hall. In the middle of the room they entered sat a man on a chair, his eyes lighting up when he saw who was walking towards him.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my favourite little merchant kid!” he got up and started walking towards them. The moment Jihoon heard the words he tensed his back and gripped his hands. Jeonghan heard him whisper to himself “don’t hit him, he is not worth it Jihoon, don’t hit him, you can do it.” In support Jeonghan laid his hands on Jihoons’ back ushering him forward into the room.

“Seungcheol.” Jihoon stated as a matter of fact when the alpha was standing in front of them. “You know why we are here, so can we start discussing about our trading deal or what? I have no intention of staying in town any longer than necessary. You have some weird people walking around today.” The moment he spoke the words Seungcheols facial expression changed from a happy smile into a more serious expression.

“I understand.” Turning around Seungcheol walked towards a table and motioned Jihoons’ group to follow him. “What do you have for trade today.” Jihoon gave Mingyu and Seokmin a small nod with his head and they moved forward placing their bags on the table. With quick hands they unpacked the bag and showed Seungcheol multiple pelts from different animals, foxes, bears, deerskin, to name just a few. Seungcheol inspected everything and in the end looked at Jihoon again expectantly. Another small nod from Jihoon had Jeonghan stepping forward, suddenly with a small package in his hand.

“We didn’t find a lot this time but the quality is quite high if I do say so myself.” Jeonghan whispered that last bit into Seungcheols ear.

Gulping he opened the small package, not bigger than the size of his hand, and he met with a beautiful sparkling light that reflected from a bunch of rough diamonds. Seungcheol looked at it debating with himself, this clearly was worth a lot, he sighed, time to start negotiations with the little devil. Said little devil was looking at him with an evil glint in his eyes and Seungcheol just knew that he would ask for some ridiculous price again. The worst part of this all was that he would most likely agree to the deal, because of the angel standing next to the little devil. If only both the omegas weren’t looking at him with such beautiful big eyes… ‘Get a grip on yourself Seungcheol.’ He told himself, he had to focus!

Seungcheol never understood why other clans decided to send their alphas when as trading partners, omegas were clearly doing a better job with trading goods. At least in his case it would have worked for sure. The only problem would be defending the omegas on the road. His eyes shifted towards Mingyu and Seokmin, now standing behind both the omegas, waiting until they were done with their negotiations. Especially the giant alpha Mingyu would do a good job as a bodyguard, that was for sure. He was a less sure about the smaller beta, Seokmin, he seemed too kind to even hit a fly. Oh well, except for him and his most trusted advisors no one knew that these omegas were trading in diamonds anyways so Seungcheol assumed that they would be safe. Most people would only see the pelts that they carry around on their backs.

If he wanted to get a good deal out of this he might need to call for some help. As he walked to one of the side doors and peeked his head out, immediately seeing the person he was looking for. “Hansol can you please call Minghao and come inside?” Hansol tried peeking past Seungcheol to see why he needed help and that is when the scent of the omegas hit him. “Ah the merchants are back?” he asked Seungcheol with a knowing tone. Seungcheol just nodded and told him to hurry up with calling Minghao as the merchants were a bit in a hurry.

\---

After settling their deal and catching up on some small talk Seungcheol send Hansol on his way to get the goods that they traded away for the diamonds. They had gotten a pretty good deal this time around and he was very pleased with the outcome. Getting Minghao to help had proven to be a wise decision. The beta was able to ignore all the tricks that the omegas tried to pull and with his knowledge about the diamonds and market prices he been invaluable in their discussions. In the end it had even seemed as if the little devil had sulked about not getting his normal ridiculous high prices. Oh the taste of victory was indeed very sweet, he thought and a satisfied smirk was visible on his face.

It was in that small moment of victory that trouble announced itself, or at least when the messenger of trouble came barging through the door at lightning speed, almost knocking over small Jihoon in the process. Panting due to a lack of breath he started, “Seungcheol there is trouble in town and not just your average pick pocketers. That group of people who you asked me to investigate are definitely a part of the warrior pack. I believe it is even their head alpha… what was his name again… uh…” The guy started stuttering, because he was in a rush to tell his alpha every little detail he knew. 

“Jun will you please calm down first, I cannot understand what you are saying if you start stuttering that much.” His voice had that typical parenting tone to it and that seemed to be enough to calm Jun down at least a tiny bit. “Ah before I forget, this is Junhui, everyone calls him Jun, I don’t believe that you’ve met him before.” Seungcheol said to his guests. “Junhui these guys are the most merciless merchants I know, please don’t underestimate them for their looks. They will rip you off of all the money you have earned.”

Jeonghan quickly introduced them all and by the time introductions were over Junhui had completely calmed down.

“Let’s try your story again and now please slow it down a bit Jun.” Seungcheol said to his old friend.

“Ah yes, I will.” Junhui started, “I don’t know if you have heard of the warrior pack before?” The question was not directed towards Seungcheol but towards the traveling merchants. Jihoon quickly shook his head in denial. “In the last five years this pack has started to seize more and more territory. Their fighting is unrivalled along the whole east coast. Apparently a huge storm has lost them their own homelands years ago and they are now searching for a new place to settle. That pack didn’t stop at just finding a new territory next to their own, for some reason they have conquered at least ten other packs and taken over their lands.” At the mention of this Jeonghan and Jihoon looked at each other with concern written all over their faces. “In the last months they have been traveling across the eastern mountain side but they have not started any new attacks. People believe that their food supplies have almost run out and that they are waiting for the next harvest in order to resume their campaign. Others suggest that they have finally settled down somewhere in the eastern mountains.” Seungcheol had listened to the whole story but was now starting to grow impatient, since he knew all this information and Junhui had stated before that members of the pack were inside his city walls.

“Jun will you please continue at the part were the dangerous members of a warrior pack entered MY town and how they can now threaten MY people, instead of retelling their whole background story. I know that I told you to slow down but please hurry it up.” Seungcheol was growing impatient, if they really were here than he needed to know why and how to stop them from taking over his lands.

“Sorry Seungcheol, apparently they want to speak to you or something? I think they want to make you some kind of offer,” Jun looked at Seungcheol, “their pack leader is in town as well. Euh what was his name again... Soon... something?”

“In that case please be so kind to invite him inside with Hansol and the others. We need to give them a warm welcome in our beautiful town of Strenyard.” Seungcheols tone was dark and threatening and it did not seem like it would be a warm welcome at all if you asked the omegas. The alpha was releasing a very heavy amount of pheromones and the omegas felt a chill run over their spine.

“As much as I would like to meet the destroyer pack,” Jihoon started his voice dripping with sarcasm, “I don’t want anyone to find out what riches our lands have to offer. I want to be able to travel home safely, so we will take our leave. Can we take our goods from the usual place?” Seungcheol nodded, stating that Hansol should have everything prepared. Jihoon glared over to the rest of his pack members and they all took the hint, following him out of the door, disappearing into the darkening world as the sun outside was slowly setting.

\----

\----


	4. Chapter three

Chapter three: The warrior packs head alpha

It was apparently market day in Strenyard, something he had not anticipated when coming to the town. It was bustling with activity and noise, but he had to admit that it seemed like a nice town to live. The marketplace was a sight to see on it’s own, graced with trees and flower patches along the side of the road. The wooden houses were all decorated with paintings of beautiful flowers. The little windows were actually made of glass that was coloured in in different shades. Something that Soonyoung had rarely seen before. It was said to be one of Strenyards specialties, the glass industry was famous all over the eastern continent. A few houses had iron decorations in different shapes and sizes, the one that stood out to him was the inn at the other side of the town square. The inn had a beautiful iron pattern displayed above the entrance that resembled the town square itself. Truly a masterpiece. Next to the inn he saw a tall man that looked in his own direction, making him a little uncomfortable.

It was indeed a very wealthy town and somehow Soonyoung had the feeling that he wouldn’t have won a fight with the head alpha, without even seeing the damned guy. He was happy that he had chosen to try and get on the alphas good side instead. Sunken deep in his own thoughts he looked at the sky that was starting to change into a dark blue hue, stars slowly getting visible as the moon starting to creeping up behind the houses. While he was contemplating about how to propose his deal to the head alpha, he failed to notice some guards slowly encircling their group and by the time he noticed they were already surrounded. Soonyoung suddenly felt the presence of another alpha staring him down.

“Please be so kind to drop you weapons,” it was the guy he had seen staring at him before from the other side of the marketplace, “I would hate it if I had to spill blood on such a nice day.” Despite the jolly tone the guy had used, Soonyoung knew that it wasn't an empty threat. A bit further at the back a beta was lurking, nunchaku s nonchalantly in his hands, despite his skinny stature Soonyoung decided that the nunchaku man might be the most dangerous of his opponents. The way he was now gripping his nunchaku implied to Soonyoung that he had to move quickly otherwise a fight would ensue. Seeing that Soonyoung wanted to offer a trade to the head alpha getting into a fight with guards was probablynot a good way to start a conversation. While he was debating about taking a fight the tall alpha in front of him had also started moving and taking on a pose in which his hands had easier access to the sword on his back.

The fighting stance of the man looked impressive and Soonyoung wondered if the alpha would offer him a good fight. Even though he was sure that in the end he would be victorious in a one on one fight, a scan of his surroundings thought him that his group was clearly out numbered. Maybe he should have brought more than just five people when visiting this town. Lifting up his hands, he shrugged his shoulders. “Of course, how can we decline if you are asking us so politely, how could I do anything else than to comply with your kind request.” His honey coated voice would send shivers down the spines of most guards, for some reason it was sinister rather that friendly, but the tall alpha just gave him a weird look and signalled him to drop his weapons.

“Don’t try any tricks, I am not in the mood to fight you. Weapons in the bag.” Waving with his finger towards one of the other guards who stepped forward holding a huge bag. With a heavy, and very dramatic sigh, Soonyoung took off his weapons and dropped them into the opened bag, his group members quickly followed his example. After checking if all the weapons were gone the tall man signalled Soonyoung and his group to follow. “Seungcheol has been waiting to for you. Let’s go.”

\--- 

The man brought them to a formal looking stone building, he went inside leaving the rest of the guards with Soonyoung and his pack members. Soonyoung whistled in appreciation of the architecture in front of him. He looked up and admired the handiwork of several stone statutes that decorated the exterior of the building. The stones in the entrance had different markings etched into them, most likely the clan symbols of the Strenyard pack, a lion with its claws stretching towards the side of the door as if it wanted to claw itself in the wooden doorframe. The symbol was repeated in the light blue surface of the door. The skinny looking beta from before was suddenly next to him. “That is the mighty lion, the king of the animals, he knows no fear and has great pride in his own pack.”

“Sometimes it is good to fear the unknown, it might turn out to be more powerful than a lion.” Soonyoung answered. The beta looked at him and Soonyoung could not decipher what his expression meant.

“If you have never fought a lion it might be wise to respect its power.” With those words the beta turned around and stalked away towards a wooden building opposite of what Soonyoung supposed was the stone townhall of Strenyard. The skinny beta had guts, that was for sure and he also seemed intelligent. Fighting an unknown enemy is one of the biggest mistakes people can make during war times. Soonyoung was lucky to have a great strategist in Jisoo, who helped him with gathering information about his opponents and conducting the perfect plan to take them down. Joshua had already advised him not to fight the Strenyard pack, he didn’t disclose why however and so Soonyoung had been curious about the pack ever since Joshua brought up its existence.

The door opened and the tall alpha stepped outside the hall, “I will not allow all of you inside, only your head alpha, which I assume is you, and you are allowed to bring two others.,” the man was talking to him. Soonyoung just gave a slight nod in response. “Is there anyone else that you want to come with you?”

Of course there was, Soonyoung had not planned to take everyone inside with him from the very beginning of this trip. Someone next to him stepped forward, Jisoo himself, with his hand he pulled another man forward who had been hiding in the back, Wonwoo. Soonyoung found himself nodding and pointing at the three of them, “Us three will suffice.”

\---

“Should I say that it is a pleasure to finally meet you? Should I feel honoured? Or should I feel threatened that you have visited my territory?” The harsh voice came from a tall and muscular looking alpha sitting across the room on a chair. “Kwon Soonyoung I assume?”

“The pleasure is all mine, I have heard a great deal about you and the Strenyard pack mister Choi Seuncheol.” To many others it might have seem like a little and useless conversation only asking about the others identity, which both alphas already knew. For the alphas however it was a simple way of testing the waters before starting the actual conversation. The reaction of an alpha can be quite aggressive to say the least, if an alpha can calmly answer a harsh sounding voice it means that the alpha has at least a decent amount of self-control. The coming conversation would be an uphill battle for the alphas in order not to attack the other dominant alpha. 

A sweet scent suddenly reached his sensitive nose causing him to sniff the air in order to locate its owner. Seeing that there were no omegas in the room except for Wonwoo, Soonyoung concluded that the scent was most likely lingering from an omega that had visited the room just before him. The scent was intriguing for some reason unknown to him.

“Once you are done sniffing out my home, I would like to know why you are here.” Seungcheols sarcastic voice informed him. A blush almost crept up onto his cheeks, almost.

“I would like to offer you a deal that you won’t be able to decline.” Soonyoung announced proudly, behind him he could hear Jisoo smacking his own forehead. That might not have been a good way to start this meeting considering the opposing side is an alpha. Especially the alpha of a pack that in itself is known to be quite good at fighting.

“You are quite sure of full yourself aren’t you? I doubt that I need any deal that you can propose to me, as you might have seen we are perfectly able to defend ourselves in this city. You are the one who needs my help. I’ve been informed that your food supplies are running out, meanwhile my city has a surplus of food. So I think I am perfectly able to decline any offer you make.” Seungcheol snapped at him.

“Please let me do the talking before this stupid head alpha of mine screws up this conversation even more.” A calm voice said.

“And who are you if I might ask?” Seungcheol inquired.

“Hong Jisoo sir or Hong Joshua, I don’t mind which one of the two names people use. I am the strategist of the Vanghgard pack and my main task is to make sure that the idiot in next of me doesn’t make any mistakes he can’t undo.” Soonyoung had flinched at the last words as if he was a small child getting scolded by his mother. Seungcheol admitted to himself that he found the relationship between this Jisoo and Soonyoung amusing and so he decided that he would let the man talk.

\---

“What is the amount of supplies that we are talking about?” Seungcheol asked. The answer came from the cold looking omega that had been silent all along during the talks. The man had a surprising deep voice, especially for an omega, but it was soothing in its own special way. Seungcheol listened attentively to what the man had to say while thinking about how he would have to distribute the food. After the man was done explaining Seungcheol knew enough.

“I must say that this deal you are proposing seems better than what I expected after the initial start of this conversation. However I still want to talk to my own advisors before accepting or declining your offer. You are welcome to stay in town for the next few days while I make my decision, but I have to ask you to leave your weapons behind. I do not want people other than my own pack members to walk around in town while they are heavily armoured.”

Jisoo had to stop himself from smiling too much and nodded. “We will be delighted to spent a few more days in this beautiful town.” He bowed down and grabbed Soonyoung in his neck to make him copy the motion. After that he turned around giving Soonyoung a push in the direction of the door.

Once the so called warrior pack members left the room a grin spread on Seungcheols face. He had expected the head alpha of the Vanghgard pack to be a warrior, standing high above his subjects. The man in question seemed quite different from that though. Through out the talks he had looked like a puppy that lost his favourite toy and so he had been sulking. Even though the latter was an alpha as well Seungcheol would almost call the man cute. His squishy pouty cheeks did not fit in Seungcheols description of how alphas looked. The door opening interrupted his thoughts, Hansol walked in followed by Junhui and Minghao, he had a lot to explaining to do.


	5. Chapter four

Chapter four: On a whim

Upon leaving the imposing townhall Soonyoung and his friends were escorted back to what seemed like a normal townhouse. Their guide opened the door and ushered them to go inside.

“I’ve gotten orders from the head alpha to bring you to Minghaos house. If you want to see another day I would advise you to not be loud inside the house, he hates that. Also, don’t touch his belongings or break anything, you will regret it. The last person who was loud during the night had to spent two weeks at the hospital when Minghao snapped.” The warning from the guard was clear and had Soonyoung wondering what kind of impressive person this Minghao was. “ The guest rooms are upstairs located to your right, Minghao will be home shortly in order to cook dinner, so please take your time to freshen up.” With those final words the guard turned around and left them.

“Do you think that they will accept our deal?” Soonyoung asked Jisoo and Wonwoo once their packmates had disappeared into their respective rooms.

“I think they will, but I do suspect that they either want more in return for their help or they want to offer us less food.” Jisoo answered, “We kind of have the better side of the deal right now and I am sure that Seungcheol noticed that too when he started asking questions about the amount of food we needed.” Wonwoo nodded on the side and added, “Even if they offer us half the food it would still be more than enough, I calculated it quite effectively if I do say so myself.”

\---

“So they want food? The amount that they want is too much really, we can’t offer them that much.” Hansols answer was resolute and Seungcheol only nodded, he had come to the same conclusion before. “I do like the rest of the deal, that Soonyoung kid is right. Their warrior pack is not the only danger that is approaching and compared to the stories about the Exodus pack they are quite 'soft' in their war tactics. They are at least merciful towards the helpless. It will be smart to work together in order to prepare for the eminent Exodus attacks. If we announce an alliance it might even be enough to keep the Exodus pack out of our territories for good. The food we can miss, our lands offer more than enough and we can’t even sell all our stock.” Hansol continued thinking out loud and the others nodded acceptingly. Hansol was right. The threat that the Exodus pack posted was far bigger than the one of the Vanghguard pack. The sheer rumoured size of the Exodus pack was enough to send shivers down the spines of the townspeople. 

“So what is the amount that we will offer?” Seungcheol inquired expectantly.

“I figured that half the amount that they asked for would be enough.” A knock on the door interrupted them and Minghao entered the room.

With an innocent voice Minghao stated. “Half will indeed be enough I accidentally overheard their conversation in my house when I followed the guard just now.” Hansol, Junhui and Seungcheol looked at each other with knowing looks, in other words Minghao had used his eavesdropping skills. Minghao had always had superior hearing as well as a natural ability to move around in complete silence. It came in quite handy, but having it used against you was foul play if you asked them.

“By accident?” Junhui asked with raised eyebrows. Minghao flashed his most innocent smile towards Junhui and nodded while repeatedly blinking his fluttering eyelashes.

“Let’s offer them a bit more than half, that way we are sure that they will still accept.” Seungcheol concluded their talk.

“What about the disappearances of their pack members?” Hansol asked, “The story is identical to multiple disappearances that occurred with our own pack in the last few years, also in the eastern mountains.”

The eastern mountains had been feared by their clansman for ages and with good reason. Almost no one that went into forest surrounding those mountains came back and the ones that did come back would never talk about what they had seen or how they had lost their pack members. In Strenyard a silent rule was to never enter that forest and children were taught about the dangers from a young age. In the last few years some of their younger pack members had thought of a challenge of courage that had people entering the forest. The ones that ventured to far into the forest had never returned and after Seungcheol had taken over the position of head alpha he forbade the youngsters from taking part in the challenge. None of the couragous youngers ever made it back to Strenyard.

So the story Soonyoung had told him was no surprise for the Strenyardians, when the man informed him that he had send scouts into the forest Seungcheol blatantly told him that those men would be death by now. After that Soonyoung had let the case rest but Seungcheol had seen the man’s face light up in a determined look. He was most likely to go into the forest himself and that was something Seungcheol hoped the man would delay until they had at least finished their deal. The forest wasn't rumoured to be cursed for nothing. 

“I am sure that Soonyoung will go into the mountains himself in the unforeseen future.” Seungcheol said to Hansol.

“In that case I want to join his little expedition.” Junhui’s voice startled Seungcheol and Hansol as the man had been fairly quite until now.

“You want what?!” Seungcheols basking voice was suddenly fuelled with anger, echoing through the room and shocking the others.

“Forgive me for saying that, but I think that the forest has been shrouded in mystery for long enough. Soonyoung was right when he said that people don’t just disappear like that, especially well trained hunters and warriors. There is something in the forest that attacks visitors and I want to find out what it is.” Junhuis voice was determined. "I don't believe in curses."

“I will join too.” Minghao said to his friend. “I agree with Junhui, our pack has been living next to that forest for ages and we still don’t know what threatens our families. What if the threat decides to leave the forest?” He continued after looking Seungcheol straight in the eyes. "This ain't a curse that is contained by a forest. Whatever danger it is, it can leave the mountains and when it does I want to know what it is."

Seungcheol suddenly saw visions of his beautiful town burning under the attack of an unknown giant, taking his anger out on his fellow pack members. He was not going to let his pack members suffer. He directed his look onto Junhui. “You can go into the forest, but if all of you are going, so am I.”

“Oh no you won’t.” Hansol interfered from the side. “We are not risking our head alpha on some kind of dead mans mission. You stay put.” Although Hansol was several years younger he showed no fear when talking to his superior. 

Seungcheol was about to protest but he realized that Hansol was right, with the responsibilities he had right now he could not travel to the forest on a dangerous adventure. He had to take care of his pack and of the town. “If you all want to go than let’s propose a plan to Soonyoung, the more people enter the forest, the higher the chance that people actually get out.” No one would argue with his reasoning so they all agreed to it, ending their small counsel meeting.

It was about time to sleep and Minghao had to go back home to take care of his sudden guests.

\--- 

“Where is Soonyoung?” Minghao asked when he got home and noticed that said head alpha was missing. His eyes were looking at Jisoo and Wonwoo as if he was ready to kill them if they did not answer him immediately. Jisoo realized that the guard was right, Minghao even though he looked like a fluffy cuddly skinny boy, he was scary as fuck. Don’t. Mess. With. Minghao.

“He left an hour ago, mentioning something about going to the market.” Wonwoo stated timidly.

“Why would he go to the market? All the merchants have been gone for several hours, it’s freaking dark outside!” Minghao was furious, he was supposed to look after the warrior pack members and make sure that they didn’t cause a mess inside town. Now one of them was gone, the most dangerous one of them was gone. Minghao had to resist the urge to hit someone in order to vent off his anger. 

“Soonyoung is a bit temperamental, his mood changes on a whim, after which he will suddenly do something completely different from before. He has always been like that ever since he was a small child. If we try to stop him, he will either get really mad and start breaking stuff, cry for some unknown reason for hours or he starts sulking and won’t talk to anyone for about a week. We have long since decided that it is best for our pack to just let him go if he wants to.” Jisoo explained patiently. The explanation left Minghao wondering what kind of leader would dump his pack mates like that on a whim, but he decided not to judge when he didn’t even know the man.

“In conclusion I think it is safe to say that Soonyoung didn’t go to the market.” Wonwoo added dryly from the side, his face now holding an amused grin instead of the usual cold glare.

“Ya think dipshit?” Minghao really was losing it and he decided that it would be best for him to calm down. “He normally comes back by himself right?” Jisoo nodded as an answer so Minghao continued. “In that case I will start on dinner, it is late enough as it is and I am hungry.” In response to his dinner statement he heard someone’s belly grumbling. “If he is too late for dinner, he will simply have to go and starve. Not my problem.”

\---

After being dumped inside the house Soonyoung quickly got restless, he had to do something so he said to Jisoo and Wonwoo that he would go to the market. In the beginning he really went to the marketplace but along the road he suddenly noticed the sweet scent again that had lingered inside the townhall. Intrigued he decided to follow the scent. After moving a few blocks through unfamiliar streets he suddenly reached some sort of warehouse. It seemed that the person had been here for quite some time as the scent was remarkably strong. He looked around to see if he could find some clues about the person and saw cart tracks on the road. “Looks like it is a merchant, interesting.” He mumbled to no one in particular. His curiosity was triggered even more now and he decided to follow the tracks .

In a few minutes after he started following the scent down the cart tracks, he had left Strenyard behind him. Glancing behind him seeing the warm orange light from the fires within the town bounderies, Soonyoung gulped. He had been gone for over an hour already, but it was about to be much longer. Jisoo would not be amused that was for sure. Soonyoung could almost here his voice berating him like a small child, asking him thirty times how he could leave at such an important time. The thought of Jisoos scolding was enough to make him halt his movements for a while and he almost decided to go back. Almost. His curiosity was stronger than his fear for his subordinates imminent anger. 

The scent was not very strong and his tracking skills taught him that the cart tracks were at least several hours old. Looking around Soonyoung decided that he would not be able to close the distance quick enough in his slow human form. He reached for the bag on his shoulder and grabbed a special sack out of it. Since he often ran off in his pack he had made himself a little bag for emergencies. If he needed to turn back to a human he would at least have a few spare clothes. Without further ado Soonyoung took of his clothes as to not rip them apart and give Jisoo even more reason to scold him and folded them neatly into his bag.

He hadn't used his wolf form in quite some while and he was really looking forward to running wild for a few hours. Placing his hands on the ground he started thinking about his wolf form in his head. Instantly his features started to change, his limps becoming longer, claws growing and fangs showing. In a matter of seconds his bones had snapped into their new place and he finished his transformation. With his jaw he scooped up his little emergency sack. Soonyoung knew that his wolf form was nothing short of intimidating for most others, he was huge, with a beautiful shiny black pelt and big golden eyes. In an almost gracious manner he stepped onto the road, stretching his legs one more time before he set off to follow the tracks. His wolf form offered him faster legs and a better nozzle which made following the scent easier than before. He quickly changed his pace into a faster one, his legs moving quicker and quicker in order to follow the merchants cart.

\---

It took Soonyoung around two hours to finally see a cart moving at the horizon, his canine eyes providing him night vision. From where he was he could see that there were four people sitting on the cart. Two of them stood out to him immediately, a really tall looking man and a really short looking boy. The scent had now become even stronger than before and Soonyoung knew for sure that he had found the people he had been looking for all evening. He ignored his protesting belly screaming for food and decided to make a run for it.

By now he had almost reached the cart, about a hundred meters separated Soonyoung from the merchants. Who had yet to notice the wolf jogging behind them. Soonyoung thought that at least two of merchants were asleep, judging from their posture and that only the tall one was managing the horses, pulling the cart forward. Soonyoung was trying to figure out who was emitting that sweet scent but before he could identify the person he felt a slight sting on his right shoulder and then everything went black…

\---

\---


	6. Chapter five

Chapter five: The eastern mountain expedition

Soonyoung woke up several hours later because of the sunlight reaching his eyes through the clouds. The cart and the merchants were long gone and Soonyoung was trying to find out what had happened. He remembered running after the cart and the happy feeling of almost reaching it. After that his mind was clouded.

The others were most likely worried about him by now and he decided that he had to get up and get back to the town. His mind was still trying to remember yesterdays events, trying to come up with a reason why he passed out. That was when his tummy started rumbling again. Had he passed out because he was hungry and had ran for too long without eating? Soonyoung decided that it was the only answer that his mind could give him right now and he was at peace with his answer. The first thing he had to do was hunt for some food and after that he had to hurry his as back to Strenyard, because every passing minute would give Jisoo more reason to kick his butt later on.

\---

It was afternoon by the time Soonyoung reached Minghao’s house, only to find that no one was at home. Wondering where everyone was he decided that he could use a nap and laid down. That was how everyone found him later that day. Wonwoo could have sworn that he saw steam rising from Jisoos ears when he laid eyes on Soonyoung peacefully napping on the couch in the living room. Never before had Wonwoo heard such a long preach from Jisoo, even Minghao had been surprised at how furious Jisoo was and he had chosen to go report to Seungcheol instead of staying home. The scolding lasted at least half an hour in which Soonyoung cowered away more with every passing minute. In the end Wonwoo had heard enough and he wanted to know what Soonyoung had done the night before, so he interrupted Jisoo talking about the importance of the trading deal and how Soonyoung ran off, to ask Soonyoung about where he had been.

The answer was even less satisfying than Wonwoo had thought. Apparently their head alpha had traced some random scent out in the middle of nowhere only to pass out because he didn’t eat for almost a whole day. Jisoo and Wonwoo could only shake their head and wonder how this guy was competent enough to lead them. Oh well the guy was at least a decent leader, he treated everyone equally, alpha, beta and omega alike. That was already a difference with most other clans in which a more hierarchical system was typical. Wonwoo had blessed the heavens on more than one occasion that he was born in a pack that appreciated omegas for more than their reproductive abilities.

“As much as I love to hear more about your little night trip into unconsciousness we have more important issues to discuss.” Soonyoungs explanation was cut short by Jisoo. “The Strenyard pack has accepted our trade offer and they will trade their food in return for peace and protection. However they will only give us three quarters of the amount we initially asked for.” That surprised Soonyoung, he had not expected that Seungcheol would accept that quickly. That he would accept was something Soonyoung did anticipate. “Furthermore, some of his men want to join your little expedition into the eastern mountains.” If Soonyoung was surprised before right now he was simply shocked.

“Why do they want to join us?” Curiosity was getting the overhand in Soonyoungs mind.

“The eastern mountains are notorious for the many disappearances that happen there. Your case is not the first one, the Strenyard pack has lost countless of its members to the forest over the years. I believe that this is a chance to investigate the forest with a little army. ‘The more people go in, the more chances there are that some people actually get out’, were Seungcheols exact words.” Minghao stood in the door opening answering the question. “I am actually one of the persons who volunteered to go investigate.” The three members of the Vanghgard pack looked at each other thinking about the words Minghao just spoke. “I do advise you to appoint someone to take over your pack in case you disappear.”

“I have appointed Jisoo to look after the pack while I am gone.” Soonyoung informed Minghao. “Wonwoo will go with me, he is an excellent tracker and will for sure be a great help inside the forest.”

“So I guess that we have everything figured out then?” A deep voice came from outside, followed by heavy footsteps entering Minghaos home. “The only thing left is setting a date for the adventure.” Seungcheol made his way over to a chair and sat down comfortably. “What is for dinner today Minghao?” Leaving Minghao to shake his head and turn around into the kitchen. 

“I want to go as soon as possible, tomorrow maybe?” With hopeful eyes Soonyoung looked at Seungcheol.

“Well I am not going so you will have to ask Hansol, Junhui and Minghao when they can join.”

“Please get me out of here! If that guy messes up my house one more time I will commit the crime of strangling my head alpha!” Minghao answered from the kitchen right when Seungcheol stretched his feet over the table, leaving dirt behind all over its surface. Seungcheol chuckled in response while lifting his feet of the table and wiping the dirt off with the hem of his shirt.

“That leaves Junhui and Hansol and of course your own men.”

“I won’t take much people with me, it will just be me and Wonwoo. I need the others to protect the camp when I am not around.” The serious face Soonyoung made was in deep contrast with the expression he had before while getting scolded by Jisoo. “We can leave any moment, Jisoo can handle the rest of our deal.” He nodded towards the beta sitting across from Seungcheol in the room. “He is better at diplomacy and trading anyways.”

“I agree.” Seungcheol and Jisoo both spoke up at the same time, Wonwoo was nodding on the side and even Minghaos head came around the corner of the kitchen door in order to add a comment about Soonyoungs skillset.

“Why is everyone against me?” Soonyoung raised his hands in defeat and stood up to leave the room. “Tomorrow we leave?” He half stated before walking upstairs to his room, most likely to pack his belongings again.

“I will make sure that you have adequate supplies.” Were the last words Seungcheol added before standing up and leaving through the front door. He had a lot to take care off and he still had to inform Hansol and Junhui that they would leave tomorrow morning. 

"I just started with dinner!" Minghao's scream was directed to thin air as all the previous inhabitors of the room were now gone, off to start their own preparations. 

\---- 

The next day their journey to the eastern mountain started. After saying their respective goodbyes to their friends that stayed behind, the group of men followed the road leading them towards the eastern mountains. If you think first meetings are awkward in itself, try traveling with a band of people that do not know each other at all. To add to that, three people do not like talking that much and remain quiet for almost the whole first day. That is the situation that Soonyoung found himself in and when it was time to take a rest in the afternoon Soonyoung saw his chance to flee. The silence had become unbearable. Even though he had known Wonwoo his whole life, the guy was always silent around strangers. The ever so talkative Minghao had suddenly become a serious man in the presence of Junhui and Hansol. Had he interrupted and taken part in the conversations of Soonyoung and his group yesterday, today he had not spoken a single word towards them. He let out a sigh, sitting apart from the group was not the solution right now.

“Why is everyone so quiet? Doesn’t anyone of you have something to say? Tell me your life stories or any stories you know about the eastern mountains but please,” Soonyoung dragged out the last word to emphasise his displeasure with the current situation, “talk to each other. If the mystery forest doesn’t kill me than this silence sure will!” He ended his story with a dramatic pose covering his eyes with one arm as if he was starting to cry. The result was three pairs of eyes wondering what was happening and the fourth already knew his leader too well and decided too ignore his antics.

“Hansol might know some stories about the mountains. He was part of the committee that decided the youth shouldn’t enter the forest anymore.” Minghao suggested, “I am sure that you know more about the mountains than any of us.”

“Let me think for a bit,” the handsome alpha said, “maybe a good starting point is that not all people disappear forever. There have been occurrences of people returning from the forest, however they all said that they couldn’t remember what happened. At least that is what we tell to our clansman in order to keep them calm. Soonyoung was right when he suggested that there were indeed humans involved with the disappearances in the mountains. A few years ago a young man disappeared into the woods, only to return last year. When we interrogated him he told us that he had been captured by a clan of warriors inside the forest. According to him they live like nomads and do not have a residence inside the forest. The people he met were like hunters and scavengers, but they were also some of the best fighters he had met in his life time, so he decided not to run in order to survive. From time to time other captives would vanish, never to be seen again. His also said that they still engage in human sacrifices. That sounds a little sinister though and I am not sure that we should believe him.”

Hansol looked around to see the effect of his words on his group mates. They all were incredibly calm looking so he decided to continue with his storytelling. “In the end he escaped during one of the many travels to a new location to set up their camp. He was afraid that they might find him again so he didn’t really step outside. Seungcheol had to promised not to tell his story further, I guess I don’t count for that promise since the guy didn’t know that I was eavesdropping on the conversation. One thing I remember is that the man said that their alphas were taller than anyone he had ever seen in his life. He had not seen any omegas, they were most likely hidden from the prisoners. Oh and he also talked about some kind of pack, uh Greenhill or something.”

Soonyoung had listened carefully and was weighing every word doubtfully. The story had a lot of plot holes in it and he was unsure if the man had told his story truthfully. “Do you trust the story of the man?”

Hansol looked Soonyoung directly into his eyes, “No, while I do believe that he was indeed captured, I don’t think that he would have been capable of escaping if the people that captured him were really that strong.”

“Good, because I don’t trust it either. I want to see such a civilization with my own eyes.”

\--- 

Since most of them did not like fighting in their wolf forms they decided to travel in their human forms in order to carry weapons around. Two days had passed already and they were still not near their goal. Soonyoung felt himself getting rusty and he was in need of a good training. He rummaged in his bag and got his favourite weaponry out, rounded twin blades. The handles were decorated with what looked like the imagery of a tiger. Feeling the weight of the swords in his hands he started walking to Wonwoo but was interrupted by Junhui. “Are you going to train? Please let me practice with you, I have nothing better to do anyways.” This could be fun, Soonyoung thought to himself, he had been wanting to fight with Junhui ever since he first laid eyes on the alpha in the marketplace.

After finding a wide open area they walked to their respective sides and waited for their opponent to make the first move. The others had also gathered on the clearing and were watching them intently. Unbeknownst to them, their eyes were not the only ones watching the spectacle unfold.

High above the clearing in a tree another person had his eyes set on their camp. He raised his hands to his mouth and imitated the sound of a firecrest. Soon the bird sound was answered from across the clearing. After getting the answering call the man in the tree imitated the sound of a European Robin. It was not the right time, he needed more information first. Timing was essential.

\---

The scouting group filled their days with travel, practice and training. It took them another week to reach the place where Soonyoung wanted to enter the forest. Near his own packs temporary camp. Walking into the forest like this, it looked like your everyday forest, nothing weird. No sudden dangerous slopes, no poisonous plants that a decent hunter wouldn’t know about. With every step that Soonyoung took into the forest he became more certain of his own idea that the forest was indeed inhabited by humans and that those humans didn't want any involvement with other people.

Right now Soonyoung was debating with himself what the best course of action would be, staying together with the risk of being easily found or splitting up into smaller scouting squads, with the risk of being picked off individually. Both options did not seem very appealing to him. Suddenly Minghao was next to him, that was something that he had not seen coming and he jumped a bit in surprise, earning a giggle from Minghao.

“I know that you’ve been thinking about what to do now that we are in the forest. As you might have noticed I am actually a bit skilful in walking without being seen, so my suggestion is that I make a few rounds in order to spot coming danger. That way I can warn you if I see anything or anyone.”

The suggestion seemed to be perfect for what Soonyoung had in mind, that way the other four could stay together as a group, but they had someone to alarm them if anything went array. However the plan was quite dangerous for Minghao himself. The risk of him being singled out by opponents was big. Soonyoung was just about to oppose to the plan when Minghao started talking again. “I know that you think it is dangerous for me, but please I can defend myself better than most people out there. I am sure that I can win a fight in which I am outnumbered.”

In the end Minghao got what he wanted and started drifting of to the back, front and sides of their group. Searching the surrounding area for possible dangers. Despite his efforts Minghao never noticed the eyes that were still following the group around.


	7. Chapter six

Chapter six: The unseen enemy

After a few days of traveling throughout the forest and finding nothing of interest Soonyoung called for a longer stop. The food supplies could use some extra meat and so he assigned people to hunt. In the end after a long discussion Soonyoung was allowed to hunt by himself while the others would travel in groups of two and before anyone would change their minds he ran off into the woods.

With a short bow in his hands he was quietly observing a hare across from him, a few more feet and he would be in shooting range. Careful not to alarm the hare by making a noise he moved forward. Lifting his feet weightlessly from the ground, avoiding twigs and piles of leaves while keeping his eyes focussed on his prey. One more step, he slowly raised his foot up but a sudden movement behind the hare distracted him for a bit, resulting in him stepping on a twig that broke in two pieces with a loud snap. Instantly the hares ears shot up, eyes facing his direction, the next moment the hare was gone. Soonyoung sighed, annoyed by his own mistake. There was no point in staying at his current position and so he moved further towards the place where the hare had been. His eyes looked at the ground searching for more tracks, what he found wasn’t just the hares track, he saw footprints and from the looks of them they were not even older than one hour! The hunting was forgotten and he decided to follow the footsteps. After trailing the path of his predecessor for a good amount of time he reached a clearing in the forest. Not just a clearing he concluded at closer inspection, a cliff. Before stepping out of the forest trying to hide his presence he scanned the surrounding for traces of other living beings, when he saw none he decided that it must be safe and made his way to the edge of the cliff. The moment he reached the cliff he held his breath, the view was absolutely stunning.

His entire horizon was filled with mountains looking over a huge valley. Massive rocks were clouding parts of his vision but what he saw was nothing like he had ever seen before. Beneath him he saw a little waterway meandering down the mountain side. Just what he needed, fresh water! Without further ado Soonyoung started walking towards the little river, strange footsteps long forgotten, because if he had paid attention he would’ve noticed that the footsteps were still going towards the same direction. Suddenly he halted, a strange melody hit his ears, it seemed to be an instrument. A bit more careful than before he continued his way, trying to find the source of the music. Still following behind in the tracks that were embedded into the damp forest floor. 

\----

The tall trees suddenly spread out and created a wide open field, layered with tall rocks, sloping down towards what seemed to be the waterway from before. On the side of the river he found the source of the music. A person was sitting cross-legged on a high rock overlooking the river. In his hands he hold a wooden plank with some strings attached. Somehow the person was able to create a melody while plucking at the strings with his hands. In awe Soonyoung moved forward, unnoticed by the person in front of him. The grey and green clothing of the man would provide good cover in the forest, but on the river bench it only highlighted his presence. When he got closer the person he could make out his features. A small frame, dark hair covering his head but overall muscular in appearance. He was still facing his backside and Soonyoung wondered what the person looked like. That was the moment the person turned around, probably because of the sounds Soonyoung was producing while walking over the rocky slopes, letting some rocks roll along the mountain side until they dropped into the little river. The man seemed to be quite young with a round face that appeared even younger than he probably was. Dark brown eyes were taking in his own appearance, most likely judging if he was a threat or not. Not wanting to scare the person in front of him Soonyoung quickly took of his bow and placed it on the ground.

“I am sorry for startling you, I heard a melody and wondered what it was, what kind of instrument are you playing?” The alpha approached the other person curiously, completely not noticing the other persons discomfort. Weary brown eyes were watching his every move, judging what to do about the situation. “Would I be able to play it too?” The judging expression from the other took him aback but he interpreted it differently than what the person was feeling. “Is it that difficult to play the instrument?” His worry spread all over his face causing the other person to unwillingly chuckle a little, revealing little dimples on his cheeks as he laughed gleefully. Soonyoung decided that he had to make this person laugh more, it looked good on him. “Ah, I forgot my manners, Jisoo would murder me for this, my name is Kwon Soonyoung, pleasure to meet you.” The other person remained silent, simply watching him in confusion. “What's your name?” Since Soonyoung did not notice any particular scent he concluded that he man had to be a beta.

His own loud voice seemed to startle the smaller one of the two a little. “Woozi.” He said with so soflty that Soonyoung almost didn't catch it.

“That’s a strange name, I have never heard it before. Not that I am judging it, your parents must have liked the name therefore they have chosen it. It probably holds a lot of meaning and you are free to like every name you want. Not that I don’t like it, I actually think it is kind of cute and it fits you.” The other flinched at the word cute. “Am I rambling? Sorry I tend to talk a lot, Wonwoo and Jisoo always scold me for it, it gets worse when I am nervous or excited. I guess I really like the instrument that you are playing Woozi.” Soonyoung called his name, liking the way the name rolled of his tongue. “Ah, I really like it, your name I mean, did I tell you my own name already?” Woozi slowly nodded his head and turned around grabbing his instrument again, he had decided that Soonyoung was not a threat. “Can I sit next to you and listen a bit longer?” Soonyoung asked, Woozi again nodded as an answer and so Soonyoung sat himself next to him. Woozi took the instrument in his hands and started playing again, filing the air with a soft melody. Soonyoung let out a contend sigh and laid down, closing his eyes, for some unknown reason he completely trusted this stranger. The stranger inside the cursed forest. Maybe some alarm bells should've rang in his head, but they didn't and so Soonyoung relaxed and enjoyed the moment. 

\--- 

Jihoon looked at the sleeping man next to him, Kwon Soonyoung, he had never met a person like this before, the man laid down all his defences in a matter of seconds and somehow it lead to Jihoon doing the same. Putting his guitar down next to him he looked at his surroundings noticing the sun slowly drifting towards the west, he had to go before it became dark. Mingyu and Jeonghan would start to worry about him by now. Looking at the stranger again he decided that he couldn’t just leave him here like that.

At first he tried to wake the guy up but it only resulted in Soonyoung turning sideways. Somehow it reminded him of Mingyu’s sleeping habits. Both seemed to have difficulties waking up and so he took of his own grey coat and covered Soonyoung with it, that should be enough for now Jihoon thought. The guy most likely needed his sleep if he was sleeping this soundly. Grabbing his guitar with him he quickly got up and ran back into the forest. Disappearing out of sight in seconds thanks to the perfectly camouflaged clothes.

\--- 

A few kilometres towards the southwest Minghao, Junhui, Hansol and Wonwoo were quietly enjoying their dinner. Minghao had killed two birds and that Junhui had roasted above the campfire. It smelled delicious and tasted even better after days of dry bread and jerky. The meal was completed with a few spring greens that Wonwoo had found in the forest, his knowledge of plants proved to be helpful. After dinner they decided that Hansol would do the dishes, Wonwoo was going to nap and the other two would do some sparring with their weapons of choice. After a while their little camp was filled with soft bangs of wooden practice weapons hitting each other.

\---

“Don’t you think they have come far enough now?” Wonwoo suddenly heard a voice and sat up immediately focussing his ears to hear more.

“We can’t attack now, they haven’t made it that far into the forest yet.” Another voice hissed, “The group is not complete yet, lets wait until the leader reappears.”

This is not good, Wonwoo had to warn the other, but how? If he made a sudden move now they would surely be attacked and he didn't even know if it was just two people out there or if there were more. Considering they planned to attack their full group, he assumed that there must be more than the two he heard talking.

“Quiet down idiots. You are too loud, what if they hear you!” That makes three Wonwoo thought, after that it became silent once again, except for a few birds whistling nearby. Wonwoo started counting in his head, he had to make sure that enough time passed between him getting up and the invisible idiots talking. After what seemed to be ages he reached the count of 100 and he decided that he had waited long enough. Stretching his limps he slowly rose up from his bed, making his way over to the campfire to see that Junhui and Minghao were still doing their training while Hansol was watching over them. Hearing his footsteps Hansol turned around and gave him a small smile. Wonwoo knew that he had to return the smile, the strangers were most likely still watching them until Soonyoung would return. He sat down next to Hansol and took a piece of paper, a quill and a tiny bottle of ink out of the bag that he was carrying with him. Slowly he wrote on the paper trying to be as casual as possible, before giving Hansol a slight hit on his arm and showing him the paper.

‘Please don’t freak out, act natural Hansol.’ Hansol raised his eyebrow at the words on the paper, he wanted to ask Wonwoo what he was doing but his hands were pointing at the next words. ‘We are being watched, we have to leave now. Get Junhui and Minghao, don’t talk! I will leave a mark behind for Soonyoung so that he knows what is up, we will leave tonight.’ Hansols eyes grew wider and wider as he read the words scribbled down on the paper. After that he started laughing. “What kind of stupid joke is that Wonwoo.” His loud laugh got the attention of Minghao and Junhui, “Look at this, it is quite hilarious.” Hansol continued, Wonwoo had almost gotten mad at the guy, but right now he wanted to kiss him. Talk about good acting, that was prize worthy acting right here. Wonwoo grinned towards Minghao and Junhui who slowly approached, after reading the paper they had weird grins on their faces and both looked at Hansol.

“You surely have the same bad humour.” Minghao said, “Jun let’s call it quits for today I am tired.” With those words Minghao grabbed all his weaponry and returned to his and Wonwoos shared tent. Wonwoo followed after him, inside the tent Minghao grabbed the paper and quill from him.

‘What is the plan of action now?’ A questioning look was thrown at Wonwoo, who wrote his answer down. ‘We leave at midnight, get yourself an emergency bag, I have to prepare a message for Soonyoung so that he knows what is going on, I also need to inform the other two. We leave the tents here and travel in wolf form, that is the fastest way.’ After Minghao nodded that he had read all Wonwoo got up again and left the tent to walk towards Junhui and Hansol, informing them as well.

\--- 

Soonyoung woke up when the moon was shining proudly in the middle of the dark blue night sky. Sleepily he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, slowly realizing where he was. Even before he glanced at his side he knew that Woozi would be gone, no point in looking. What surprised him was that he wasn’t cold despite sleeping out in the open for at least several hours, somehow he was really cosy and warm. The warmth was from an extra piece of clothing that didn't belong to him, he smiled and silently thanked Woozi for leaving him the warm coat. It was time to go back to the camp, the others would be worried about him right now.

When he reached the camp it was long past midnight, the fires had died out and it was silent around camp. Strangely enough there were no familiar scents around and that got Soonyoung on high alert. Something was off. His first thought was to check on Wonwoos safety, despite their frequent quarrels Wonwoo was still like family to Soonyoung and he was responsible for his wellbeing during this trip. Shoving the piece of cloth covering the entrance of the tent aside he peeked inside. What he saw worried him, nothing. Where were the others? After looking at Wonwoo and Minghaos tent he moved over to the tent that he shared with Junhui and Hansol only to discover it empty. There were no signs of an attack around the camp. Were they searching for him? Soonyoung decided that it could wait until tomorrow in the darkness of the night he couldn’t see the clues anyways, it would be wiser to catch up on some sleep. Before that Soonyoung made himself a quick dinner, he was not going to sleep on an empty stomach. With his hunger stilled he drifted off to sleep in a record time, dreaming about a beautiful view on a cliff accompanied by music.


	8. Chapter seven

Chapter seven: The Grenhil pack

He couldn’t go any further, his back was aching, his paws were stinging, his eyes were slowly closing, he was tired. Letting out a desperate sound Wonwoo waddled a few steps further before collapsing onto the ground, he cursed his weaker omega gender for having low stamina. In front of him both the alphas and Minghao were slowly gaining distance on him. This wouldn’t do, he had to move further, with all the willpower he could muster he forced himself onto his feet again. His poor front legs were shaking in defiance of his own will, this won’t work. Letting out another soft cry he laid down again, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes. In his mind he apologised to the others for failing them, he suddenly heard paws trotting towards him, his eyes snapped open again. A big greyish wolf was making his way over towards him, bloodred eyes focussed on his tired body. In his state he failed to recognize the wolf at first, letting out a cry in fear.

The wolf immediately halted and laid down in front of him, that was when Wonwoo finally recognized Hansol and he wagged his tail in recognition. Hansol repeated the movement and moved further towards him, laying down close to him to comfort Wonwoo. There was one big downside to using your wolf from, no talking to explain situations but it seemed that Hansol understood his situation and seemed to have made his own decision to protect Wonwoo. Judging from Hansol being alone, Minghao and Junhui must be continuing their way home, hopefully getting reinforcements. Right now Wonwoo just wanted to sleep, Hansol growled in a friendly manner, as if telling Wonwoo it that it would be alright. Closing his eyes again Wonwoo drifted off into a deep slumber, this day had been a little too stressful for the normally lazy omega.

\--- 

“They have run.” Out of breath the scout sat in front of him, kneeling down with his head facing the ground.

“Did they see anyone?” The question was logical, normally no one noticed their approach until it was too late. The scouts had been following the group for over a week without getting noticed, but now they suddenly ran off. Someone had blown their cover. He averted his eyes from the scout, “Any ideas on who gave away our cover?”

“No I don’t. I actually have more news, their group is not complete, the leader was not the others.” The scout started talking again. “But we have lost track of the leader in the woods.”

“How did you manage lose their leader!?” The pretty man was getting irritated.

“He went over to the cliffside.” That answer was not sufficient for the irritated man and so the scout continued, “he was not alone on the cliff.” The man raised his eyebrow at that, no one from their own pack dared going there normally for good reasons.

Before the poor scout could continue his story, another scout came barging through the wooden doors. “The leader is back at the camp and the group on the run has split off into two smaller groups. The omega with them couldn’t run any longer. What do we do?”

“We have waited long enough, we strike tomorrow morning. Make sure to catch them all.” With that the man rose from his chair and walked out of the room. Preparations had to be made. The scouts kneeled towards the other people in the room and left to continue their own mission.

\--- 

Hansol was getting angsty, something about the forest was off, he heard way to many alarmed birds. Next to him Wonwoo was still fast asleep, the omega must have been dead tired yesterday. Hansol had enough of his wolf form and so he decided to turn back into his human form. Always take emergency clothes with you, that was one of the first things you learn in school about changing forms. Luckily Seungcheol had drilled that into his memory and so Hansol took his emergency pack is his jaw and made his way over to a nearby bush to change back.

When he returned dressed and all he saw Wonwoo sitting up straight. “Wonwoo please change back.” The wolfs tail moved sideways a few times and Wonwoo took off to the brushes himself, emerging a few minutes later in his human form and dressed.

“Are we going to continue our way back to Strenyard?” Wonwoo asked Hansol.

“That was my plan yes, we already issued your warning to Soonyoung and you left the information about us going back. If we don’t arrive back at Strenyard before him, he will worry for sure.” The comment made a lot of sense to Wonwoo, knowing Soonyoung he would instantly go back into the forest to search for his friend. A sudden loud noise made both of them alert, Hansol tried to locate the place the sound was coming from, but before he could find the source he fell down. Wonwoo’s eyes went wide open in surprise and fear. Think Wonwoo, he urged himself and tried to calm down, closing his eyes and opening them again slowly. Out of the forest in front of him he saw a person emerging. Holding a hollow piece of wood in his hands, Wonwoo directed his look to Hansol again and noticed the little needle sticking out from his side. Blowdarts!

“Calm down,” the person suddenly spoke, “I won’t shoot you, I just don’t want to be attacked by a crazy alpha.” Once he stepped out of the shadows Wonwoo could see his features better. The man seemed to be a bit shorter than him and appeared to be a beta. On his face a friendly smile that Wonwoo deemed unfit for the situation they found themselves in, the man had just shot down his traveling companion. With concern on his face he bowed down to check Hansols pulse. “Don’t worry he will wake up in about six hours from now, quite strong stuff this tranquilizer. Some alphas are faster though, something about their incredible immune system or so I was told.” Wonwoos inner doctor woke up at that, alphas were indeed physically stronger than the other sub genders. He breathed a sigh of relieve.

“Who are you and why did you shoot him down?” Wonwoo asked the stranger, “We did nothing wrong we are just traveling through the forest.”

The stranger seemed amused by his question, “I shot him down because you are trespassing through our forest, but I think that you already figured that out didn’t you? So from that you now know that I am an inhabitant of the Grenhil forest. The name is Chan.”

The Grenhil forest? The Greenhill pack, Hansol had told them that name, turns out the man was right about there being people in the forest, they had just misheard him. Grenhil. The name sounded too peaceful considering the fact that they were hunting down every intruder in their forest.

“While I would like to chit chat a bit longer, I need to bring you two to Grenhil. So will you help me carry the big one?” Chan dared ask him. Wonwoo had the word no on his lips when Chan slowly pulled out a little dart from the belt around his waist. “Look you can either just follow me and help, or I have to shoot you down too. Either way the after effects of the tranquilizer are a bit annoying to deal with so I would advise you to just follow me now.”

“Fine…” Wonwoo stood up slowly and looked at Chan, “So how are we going to carry the big guy, in case you haven’t noticed I am not the strongest person around.” As an answer Chan looked around and behind him a person jumped down from the trees.

“Will you be so kind to carry him?” The person walked closer and looked at Wonwoo with a bright smile. When he was near him Wonwoo saw that he was quite tall and it seemed like the man was an alpha. With ease he lifted Hansol up over his back and started walking back towards Chan who was already on his way towards what Wonwoo assumed was where Grenhil would be.

“You coming?” In a few steps Wonwoo was next to the tall alpha and somehow he felt saver than ever before.

\--- 

“FUCK RUN MINGHAO!” Junhui sped up quickly and ran towards Minghao, “THEY ARE COMING!”

“No we won’t run. Let’s face them, we can win.” Minghao answered confidently.

“I saw one of them just now and I don’t think you want to fight them, they won’t fight us one on one anyways.” Junhui reasoned and with those words he ran past Minghao leaving him no choice but to follow along. Their pursuers were in their human form too, so right now it didn’t matter that they used their human form as well. However they needed to increase the distance between them and their pursuers. Without saying anything he stopped running and placed his hands on the ground, turning back into his wolf form. Minghao halted when he didn’t hear footsteps behind him and turned around seeing the wolf suddenly running at him.

“Wanna race Jun?” The wolf in front of him playfully bent down on his front legs. Minghao laughed and turned into his wolf form as well, clothes ripping apart as they were not able to stretch around his wolfs body. Back home they would have new clothes anyways he thought. Without further thinking he ran off. Hearing Jun snarling behind him because of his false start. That wouldn’t matter anyway considering the distance they had to travel. Minghao didn’t worry about their pursuers anymore, no one he had ever met was faster than him and Jun.

\--- 

“Two of them escaped the forest.” The man sitting in a large chair in front of him moved his hands to his temples massaging them but remained quiet.

“Which ones did we capture?” From the shadows a pretty looking man spoke up.

“The omega and one of the alphas, the group looking for their leader still has not returned.”

With a sigh the man in front of him stood up from his chair, “They won’t capture him.” Against the expectations from the poor scout he did not sound angered at all by the news. Instead he almost sounded amused. “Seungkwan are you up for a little exercise?”

“Do I have too?” Seungkwan came walking into the room from behind the chair of the man. “Can’t you ask Chan this time? I already shadowed you last week shooting down that alpha.” Seungkwan sniggered thinking back about how he shot down the unsuspecting black wolf.

“Chan was on the squad that captured the omega and the alpha but they are still on their way back from the forest.” He mocked, “apparently even our giant has difficulties carrying alphas around all day, who would’ve thought.” Turning around he faced Seungkwan, but before he could speak the pretty man spoke again.

“You are not going though. You might be recognized.” With big eyes the man stared at him, then he pouted and turned around.

“Fine. Seungkwan go.”

Seungkwan knew better than to go against him right now and quickly made his way out of the room.

When Seungkwan was gone the pretty man talked again, “What about the two that escaped?”

“Let’s hope for them that they don’t come back…”

\---

Soonyoung had found the markings made by Wonwoo the next day, carved in the tree behind his tent were different dots and lines. For others this might seem random but it was the made up language from their days playing around as kids. Slowly the figures had turned into a code that only Wonwoo, Jisoo and he himself knew. The mysterious people were likely to be watching over him right now too. Might as well start cleaning up camp he thought. The more normal he would act the less suspicious his watchers would be about him being aware of their presence.

The first day he spent waiting around if the others would come back or for someone to attack him. The second day he decided that he should start moving. He started packing his bag and folding his clothes. After folding his own tent he became hungry and started to work on his breakfast as well as food for traveling.

Someone whistled near him, he looked around but saw no one.

“Up here idiot.” Up in the tree sat a person looking down at him.

\---

“Oh you have to be kidding me.” He walked around nervously. “Chan have you seen him?” Chan shook his head in denial. “He went to find the fricking leader… After I told him not too and after he send Seungkwan out. Wait a minute… Did you see Seungkwan today?” Chan nodded a yes.” I will strangle him when he comes back… Call Seungkwan, we need to talk.”

Chan quickly ran out of the room to find his older friend. When he returned this morning he did not expect a greeting like this after he successfully finished his mission.

\---

“Woozi!” Soonyoung was surprised to say the least. What was the small boy doing in the forest? “Why are you here?”

“I came to get you. Have to bring you with me he said.” Woozi’s innocent eyes were staring down at his own from his position high up in the trees. “If not peacefully I would have to knock you out and drag you.”

Soonyoung nearly choked while he let out an almost hysterical laugh. “You are going to knock me out?” He questioned the smaller one. “And how are you supposed to…” The sentence would never be finished, because in the blink of an eye Woozi stood next to him, a dagger placed on his throat.

“I have my ways,” the sweet and innocent boy from the cliff was gone, replaced by a dark voice whispering in his ears. It seemed as if Woozi’s whole persona had changed in a matter of seconds. However Soonyoung was not to be easily defeated. “You know, I am very persuasive when I want too.”

“I see…” Quickly moving his elbow up he hit Woozi’s hand causing him to drop the dagger. “But I too am not too shabby in convincing others.” Before Woozi could grab the dagger he placed his foot on the little blade earning him a sharp look from his small attacker. “I think you might need more lessons in persuading people.” His remark caused Woozi to laugh, that was not what he had intended.

“Oh I haven’t even started,” Woozi ducked and quickly stepped to the side, “You see,” another step and he was behind Soonyoung grabbing one of his arms and moving it behind his back, “I need a warm up before I get serious.”

“I guess that we have something in common then.” With one movement of his leg tackled Woozi’s, causing him to fall down on his butt and let go off Soonyoungs arm. Soonyoung stared down at him animated by their little fight. Woozi stood up rubbing his butt and giving Soonyoung a death glare. If he wasn’t used to people hating him whenever his pack attacked other packs he would have flinched but now Soonyoung just grinned at the feisty boy in front of him. “You have no chance in fighting me one on one. Just admit defeat.”

His words seemed to trigger something in Woozi who leaped backwards. His eyes were cold and calculating while he was scanning his surroundings. “Why don’t you admit defeat?” Woozi jumped another step further away from Soonyoung. “I would still like to walk back together instead of having to carry your unconscious body after I win this fight.” The sheer confidence that Woozi seemed to have begun to unsettle Soonyoung but his pride as an alpha would not ever let him admit that. 

“And where would you like to take me?” Soonyoung asked.

A smug grin graced Woozis face when he answered. “To the place where your friends are now. Well two of them at least, that Hansol guy and the handsome looking omega you were traveling with.”

Pure horror made his way into Soonyoungs face. “If anyone has hurt Wonwoo they will pay with their lives.” His voice was dark and menacing as his eyes changed colour from his normal dark eyes to a bright golden colour. Wonwoo had been his best friend and was like family to him. If his adventure caused any harm to his friend… His rage about his own shortcomings protecting his omega friend was starting to blind him and his senses. His pheromones were now running wild and this would be normally cause people to run or get on their knees to apologize to the angered alpha, not wanting to suffer the wrath of the strong person in front of them. Woozi however appeared to be completely unaffected by his presence, as he stared at the alpha.

“Do you know what the weakness is of an alpha like you? They are easily provoked. This rage clouds their minds, although they gain tremendous strength from int. As long as people keep their cool against an alpha they will be able to outsmart him.” Soonyoung dove towards Woozi with his hands stretched forward in a reckless swing, but Woozi simply took one step to the left to dodge his attack. “You see as long as you dodge the attacks they will eventually tire and in the end the one with better endurance wins.” Woozi ducked to dodge a kick aimed at his head and spun on the ground, his own leg stretched in a low kick, hitting Soonyoungs standing leg and causing him to lose his balance. With a smack Soonyoung landed on the ground. “Or in this case it is even simpler, I dodge, I attack, you lose.” With those words Woozi took Soonyoung in a headlock. “So do you surrender now Soonyoung?”

Soonyoungs rage was slowly fading away as his wolf released the peril it was in. From somewhere far away he could hear Woozis voice telling him to surrender. His pride didn’t allow him surrender this easily. He tried to free himself from the firm grip that he found himself trapped in. His arm trying to pull away the arms that were secured around his neck. 

“Your friend is safe in case you were wondering.” The nonchalance in those words would take most people aback. How could Woozi stay this calm in the middle of fighting an alpha.

The words rang through his head, reaching his consciousness as he slowly progressed what he had been told. The golden eyes were slowly losing their glow and turning back to a dark brown hue. With his clearing vision he saw Woozi above him and felt the grip around his neck loosening. “Welcome back.” From his point of view he could see the quick flash of a smile on Woozis face before it faded again. “As I was saying your friend is in Grenhil, safe and sound. Together with Hansol, who should be waking up right about now.” Before the question could be asked Woozi solved it, “We used an sedation arrow on him in order to get him to Grenhil. Alphas can be a bit dangerous you see.” Only now Soonyoung realized that the smaller had called the place they were going to Grenhil, and that name rang a bell in his mind, the pack in the mountains! Woozi continued talking, “We couldn’t catch the other two, they should have left the forest by now.” The information was circling through Soonyoungs mind and he didn’t know what to do with it. “So are you coming with me peacefully?” The only thing Soonyoung could do was nod his head. The arms that were still around his neck released their grip and as Woozi got up he stretched his pretty hands out towards Soonyoung to help him up. Soonyoung had to resist the urge to pull the other down but he decided that following him towards Wonwoo was probably the better option. His pride as an alpha was hurt, the smaller beta had definitely won their fight and that was something he needed to cope with. Although the tactics were a bit dirty if you asked Soonyoung.

\---

Woozi walked a few feet in front of him, not speaking a word ever since their exchange earlier, just slowly leading the way. After a while they reached a stream that they followed towards a lake.

“We’re almost there.” Woozi broke the long silence but Soonyoungs eyes were still not seeing anything other than rocks, water and trees. Confused he looked at Woozi who raised his arm and pointed at the rock formation on their right. “Right behind the rocks, hidden between the trees.” Woozi suddenly whistled, “Gotta warn them that we are coming, don’t want them to attack us right now.” They turned another corner around the rock formation and suddenly Soonyoung found himself standing on the edge of a little town.

“Did I say between the trees? I meant to say between the trees and in the trees.” Woozi added from his side, causing Soonyoung to tilt his head upwards. In the trees he suddenly saw wooden constructions, tree houses he realized. Between different trees he saw little bridges from wood, kept together with pieces of rope. “Your friend is in the house right in front of us, don’t worry you can just walk in, I have to go now.” Without saying anything else Woozi disappeared behind a few buildings leaving Soonyoung to fend for himself in an unknown town.

Well here goes nothing Soonyoung thought as he knocked on the front door of the house that Woozi had pointed too. The door was opened by a young boy looking at him strangely. “Someone told me that I could find my friends here, can I please come in?” Soonyoung decided that asking politly would be the best course of action. Stunned the boy stepped aside revealing a nicely decorated living room. In the middle of the room was a large sitting area, cushions were placed everywhere to provide a bit more comfort when sitting down. In the middle of the room he recognized a mop of black hair. “Jeon Wonwoo!” He called out to his friend who immediately turned around to face him.

“Soonyoung!” Wonwoo stood up and came walking towards Soonyoung.

“Soonyoungie!” The door in the back of the room opened and another familiar face stepped into the open space of the living room, Dongho. Soonyoungs mouth dropped open at the sight. The first thought going through Soonyoungs head was that luckily he wasn’t dead. The second thought was why Dongho was here. The third thought was interrupted by the person who had opened the door and stepped into his view again. 

“Well hello there, nice to meet you too. I am Lee Chan, you barged into my house, I don’t know you. Get out now before I…” Chan was interrupted by yet another voice as a person unknown to Soonyoung stepped inside the room.

“You won’t do anything Channie.” He had a sweet looking round face with chubby cheeks, his short cut blond hair was messy. The stranger noticed a mirror quickly moving his hands to try and fix his messy fringe, not with much success if you asked Soonyoung. After messing with his hair for a bit the young man looked at Soonyoung. “Boss wants to see them, all of them.” Chans eyes went wide at those words.

“Is he back, did he get him?” A undefined expression found its way to Chans face, soon replaced by a smirk as he looked at the newcomer. “I want to see the show when he gets scolded. You were already scolded for following his orders, I am interested in how the big boss himself gets punished.” Somehow Soonyoung had an unpleasant feeling about meeting the boss of Grenhil pack.

“All of you come with me.”

“Do I have to come too Seungkwan?” Dongho asked the man.

“No you can stay here, but I do need the other alpha to come, is he awake yet?” The man named Seungkwan looked at Chan.

“He woke up a couple of hours ago, should be ready to go. Never thought that an alpha would stay put under that long from our little darts.” Chan wondered out loud. “I must admit that I was happy that our giant was around to carry him, otherwise I don’t think that me and Wonwoo would have survived our way back. That guy is much heavier than he looks.” Chan complained while rubbing his back with his hands, Wonwoo agreed silently copying the motion. Soonyoung wondered what was going on, it seemed like Wonwoo trusted Chan and Dongho also seemed to be completely fine.

“Hansol get your ass over here!” Soonyoung called out, surprising the others with his commanding voice. A sleepy looking Hansol walked into the room, supressing a yawn.

“Ah Soonyoung when did you arrive?” Hansol scratched his side and yawned some more.

“I honestly don’t know why Seungcheol trusts you so much…”


	9. Chapter eight

Chapter eight: The angel, the puppy and the ray of sunshine

Seungkwan guided them through the town and with every new corner they turned Soonyoung was more amazed at the way the place looked. The place seemed prosperous and wealthy all around, the houses were finished nicely with wood carvings around the edges. Every house had glass windows, some windows were even decorated with stained glass in various colours and patterns. Inside the houses people were starting to light up candles, outside people lighting fireplaces, and a warm orange colour reflected throughout the town. In Soonyoungs mind this was how he pictured Vanghgard after he rebuild it. The people that were still walking around all seemed to greet Seungkwan happily and he replied back mentioning all of their names.

After walking around for what seemed almost half an hour they reached their destination. A small bridge lead them over a canal towards a stone building. The building seemed to be easily guardable, a high stone wall with towers all around, but he spotted no actual guards. After crossing the bridge the gate was opened for them by someone that Soonyoung couldn’t see, maybe there were guards after all. Seungkwan gestured them to follow him and so the group went through the immense doors which led them too a courtyard decorated with high oak trees. Behind him he could hear Wonwoo gasp at the display in front of him, a stone keep stood tall in the middle of the courtyard, partly hidden from their view by the large oak trees. The first floors had no windows at all, but the upper floors seemed to have huge windows made with stained glass that gave a majestic feeling to the whole building. Soonyoung was suddenly not so sure about their trip into the Grenhil pack territory and he started to understand why no one has left the forest with information about the existence of the pack.

“I will inform them of our arrival, please wait here for a bit.” Seungkwan ran off towards the side of the building where Soonyoung spotted a second staircase that went up to the stone keep. Guessing that it would take a considerable amount of time before Seungkwan would return Soonyoung chose to sit down on the ground, the others followed his lead. His eyes roamed around the courtyard trying to scout out the defences of the castle. This was quite different from the wooden hill forts that most packs inhibited. The one downside that Soonyoung could think of was that the keep wouldn’t be able to protect all the villagers that he saw outside. From stories about Vanghgard he had learned that it used to have a wooden motte-and-bailey construction. Maybe if it had been a stone creation in stead of wood it would have survived the storm. He spotted a movement from the corner of his eyes on the walls, that was when he finally noticed the rope bridge hanging from the wall going into the forest and on that bridge he saw a person before he disappeared into the darkness that was the forest. Remembering the many treehouses in the village he suddenly got the feeling that this castle was not the real defence of this town… He continued watching the rope bridge in hopes of seeing more people walking on it, but there would be no further movement on the bridge.

The main door of the keep swung wide open with a loud bang and Seungkwan stood in the door opening. “You can come in.” He said while gracefully bowing down, which Soonyoung just found utterly weird but next to him he saw Hansol smile in adoration of the man.

Wait what? His head went from Seungkwan to Hansol and back again and he found the both of them staring at each other their eyes practically glistering. From all the moments that Seungcheol right hand man could fall in love he just had to choose the one that really was not beneficial at all. He had to choose the man that was keeping them captive right now. Soonyoung shook his head astonished at the youngsters. Only now he noticed the obvious omega scent lingering around Seungkwan. Well that explained part of that at least…

“Are you guys going to come in or what?” Seungkwan sounded a bit irritated. Wonwoo took the initiative and walked towards the door looking around with a face that told Soonyoung to hurry up. To which he gladly obliged.

\--- 

Inside the building Seungkwan led them to a staircase that took them towards a dimly lit room. Around the sides torches where burning with a kind orange light in their holders. Even in the relative darkness Soonyoung could see multiple brightly coloured tapestries hanging down on the wall. A slight elevation in the floor split the room into two areas. The area that Soonyoung was currently in was filled with three long rows of tables and benches. The floor was littered with thatch and some herbs that made it impossible for his nose to function normally. In one corner he could see something that he assumed were music instruments that were currently unused. The other area was smaller and lined with carpets. In the back of the room was a big curtain, in front of the curtain stood a table with some chairs. On the head of the table a tall man sat, looking down at them. Normally you would expect tall and strong looking people to be intimidating, but this man almost looked like a happy little puppy to Soonyoung. His features, very handsome, were soft, a childish smile looking like he wanted to do something mischievous. His hair was a bit curly and if straight Soonyoung was sure it would cover his eyes. The eyes were really dark in colour, puppy like with a slight sparkle to them. 

In front of a window on his left stood another man a bit shorter, looking at the scenery outside. His face peaceful with a soft smile that gave him an almost angelic appearance. His hair was cut quite short and had a brownish colour that matched his eyes. Soonyoung let his eyes travel over the people in the room trying to imprint their faces in his memory. There was no reaction from them entering the room, the men both stayed where they were.

He was starting to debate whether or not he should speak up when a next to him Seungkwan started talking. “Can I leave now?” Seungkwan asked, breaking the silence. A man that Soonyoung hadn’t noticed before in furthest corner from him answered.

“Sure go ahead, but please stay nearby so that you can guide them back towards Chan’s home.” The voice was light and seemingly kind, matching his sunlight bright smile. Seungkwan made a slight bow towards the man, turned around and took his leave. Hansol kept staring at the door after Seungkwan had left, Soonyoung could only sigh at the display.

“Please do step forward. Welcome to Grenhil castle.” The man continued talking gesturing them to move forward. Hansol finally directed his attention to the man only to suddenly stop moving with his mouth gapingly wide open.

“Seokmin?!” He asked after being silent for a while.

“It is good to see you again Hansol, although I must say that I did not expect to meet in these circumstances.” The man called Seokmin answered. “Normally we only meet in Strenyard, it is not our custom to welcome strangers in Grenhil.” The blinding smile seemed to get even brighter.

“Wait, you guys are from Grenhil?” Hansol asked surprised. The man was quite slow witted if you asked Soonyoung. Hansol had known the merchants for a few months now. The Strenyard pack had traded with them for multiple decades but only the head alpha and his closest confidants knew about the existence of the merchants. Secrecy was their most important term in order to trade. Seungcheol had only started inviting him, Minghao and Junhui to the trades after he had closed a few disastrous deals with the omegas that accompanied Seokmin during the trades.

Seungcheol had told him on multiple occasions that he didn’t know where the merchants were from, they wouldn’t tell him. 

“Nice to see you again Hansol,” the tall puppy sitting in the chair at the head of the table spoke up, “I don’t think that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your travel companions before. According to our scouts they do not even belong in Strenyard. No our scouts said they belong to the Vanghgard pack, notorious for taking over other packs territories, attacking without mercy. Junhui told us about the arrival of said pack to Strenyard last time we visited. The town was not as peaceful as it normally is, so Jihoon made us leave quite quickly. I hope you understand that from our standpoint it seems quite strange that you arrive here with said pack. So please do explain it to us.” The man had been talking to Hansol, completely ignoring the existence Soonyoung and Wonwoo, which the alpha did not appreciate. 

Hansol however was still at a loss for words after discovering that the omega merchants were part of the Grenhil pack and remained silent. Unable to find the right words to explain the newly formed alliance between both packs. 

“Since Hansol seems unable to speak, please let me introduce myself and my dear friend.” Soonyoung pointed at himself and Wonwoo. “My name is Kwon Soonyoung, head alpha of the Vanghgard pack, this is my adviser Jeon Wonwoo.” Wonwoo nodded at the mention of his name. “I would gladly explain the connection between the Strenyard and Vanghgard packs, but please be so kind to also yours as well. I still don’t know you or your connection to Hansol, Seungcheol and Strenyard. Currently my travel companion seems unable to enlighten me on this topic.”

The man next to the window whistled softly in appreciation of his response, apparently pleased with it. “My name is Yoon Jeonghan, the tall giant over there is Kim Mingyu.” Soonyoung remembered the name Jeonghan, Chan had laughed about the leader getting scolded by him. Seeing Mingyu sitting in the chair in the middle of the room he assumed that he was the leader. Taking in consideration that he was also the first one to address them. What Soonyoung really didn’t understand was why people were afraid of Jeonghan, the man was really beautiful looking. His brown short hair glowing in the orange light. Not exactly a sight that struck fear into people’s hearts. He was still unsure about the role of the Seokmin guy, but he was most likely an adviser of some sort. “The smiley guy over there is Lee Seokmin, but I guess that Hansol already said that.”

Soonyoung let his eyes drift towards Seokmin before turning back to Jeonghan, “And why are your packs related if I may ask?”

“We have traded with the Strenyard pack for decennia. They never knew about the location of our packs home, a condition for trading with us is secrecy. From time to time they tried to track us, but somehow they ended up losing us before reaching the forest. I wonder how that happened. I do remember that Seungkwan took out a large black wolf about two weeks ago. Sound familiar?” Jeonghan was taunting him and Soonyoung was starting to feel irritated. The memory of him tracking the cart still fresh in his mind. So that had not been his hunger, he had been shot with what he expected to be the same darts they previously used on Hansol. A practice that had clearly existed for quite some time now, if they had used it on other pursuers before. “That is as far as our connection goes, you do not need to know any more. Now onto your own little story, what does a warrior pack have to do with the merchants of the Strenyard pack.”

Soonyoung stopped himself from grinding his teeth in annoyance and frustration, he did not like the way he was spoken too. “Believe it or not, my pack is not the worst warrior pack out there. I also don’t think my pack deserves to be called merciless. We never attack people that can’t defend themselves, neither do we kill our own attackers. We prefer taking prisoners and convincing people to help fight for our cause.” He was sure that he heard Jeonghan sarcastically mumble ‘sure you do’, but he decided to ignore it. “Some even more threatening packs are headed our way, and your way. The Strenyard and Vanghgard packs have decided to work together rather than fight them alone.”

Hansol butted in, “Soonyoung is right, far less civilized clans are slowly marching our way. If they do defeat us, even your pack hiding itself in this forest would be in trouble. I don’t know the full extent of the Grenhil forces but I don’t think they will be able to match Exodus’.”

Mingyu joined their conversation, “But why would your two packs work together. Why didn’t the warrior pack decide on another alliance? There sure are a lot other packs out there, and you just said that you work together with conquered packs. So why the need for an alliance.”

“Our pack needed food and the pack with the biggest food surplus in the entire region is the Strenyard pack. I think that you are aware of this too, since you trade with them on a regular basis.” Wonwoo stated as a matter of fact, speaking up for the first time since entering the room. “The head alpha of the Strenyard pack, Seungcheol, saw the benefit in creating an alliance with our clan. Even though we are a warrior pack, we don’t break promises.”

“I understand that, however we have seen the defences and the troops of the Strenyard pack. According to Dongho, a member of your Vanghgard pack, even if you would’ve won eventually it would have been with great losses. Couldn’t you admit that fighting the Strenyard pack could possibly lead to your own packs demise?” Mingyu asked.

Soonyoungs frustration was still building up and he feared that he would explode in anger at any minute now. His temper had always been one of his biggest troubles and he really wished that Jisoo was here right now to help him in these talks. “The problem is not us attacking the Strenyard pack, we would have starved if we didn’t form an alliance…”

“Good, that would’ve been one less warrior pack to worry about.” Jeonghan chimed in from the side, Soonyoung was fuming.

“As much as you might hate my pack, my pack really is not the enemy. Besides that most of my pack are no warriors, they are normal families who need food. How dare you even talk about that, like they are not worth a thing.” Soonyoung snapped at him. “Seungcheol recognized the danger that Exodus is. I have seen their power with my own eyes. Even together with the Strenyard pack, I fear that our troops are no match for them. However for now at least my people will have enough food to survive until we can eat the first spring crops very soon.” Soonyoung tried to keep himself calm and collected while talking. His eyes that were focussed on Jeonghan as he spoke, were starting to glow a dangerous golden colour. Wonwoo noticed it and laid his hand on Soonyoung shoulder in an effort to stop his inner wolf from taking control over the alpha out of pure rage. “As the leader of the Grenhil pack I hope that you are able to see that fighting my pack is not the solution. I want to return home, with Wonwoo, Dongho and the others as soon as possible.” Soonyoung directed his attention to Mingyu, who was still sitting on the large chair on the head of the table, whom he assumed to be the leader. 

“You should’ve thought about that before entering our homelands. No one leaves Grenhil until we are sure that we can trust them with the information of its existence.” Jeonghan answered instead of Mingyu. “Besides you are not looking at the leader of the Grenhil pack right now. I hate to break it to you, but although Mingyu is an alpha he is not the most skilled person in leadership.”

Mingyu looked at Jeonghan accusingly offended by the statement. “I would be a great leader!”

“Sure keep that in mind, maybe one day people will actually listen to what you say.” Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “You can’t even win a fight against me, no way that you can challenge the leader for his position.”

Now it was Hansols turn to be surprised. From what he knew Mingyu was an alpha and Jeonghan was most definitely an omega. Mingyu had always looked like a good fighter whenever he had seen him. Seokmin on the other hand looked like he couldn’t even hit a fly. This did solve the question about how the omega merchants were defending themselves. Apparently Mingyu and Jeonghan did. Hansol still felt the urge to voice out his confusion, “How does Jeonghan win against Mingyu, isn’t he an omega and Mingyu an alpha?”

All eyes turned to Hansol. Jeonghan smirked and asked, “want to find out?” From the other side of the room Mingyu was signalling to him, making a huge X with his arms.

“No?” The unsure answer came from Hansol.

Soonyoung had looked at the display for a bit, he was also confused. The weird herbs that were littered across the floor were still blocking his sense of smell and he had not noticed the second genders of the people in the room. What surprised him however was not the fact that Mingyu was an alpha or that Jeonghan was an omega. No what surprised him was the fact that Jeonghan apparently won Mingyu over in a fight. Mingyu didn’t seem weak, but neither did Jeonghan look strong. “Yes.” Everyone turned towards Soonyoung, “I would like to find out how you beat the giant.”

“Believe me you don’t want to find out.” Seokmin said next to him. “There is only one person that I know of that beats Jeonghan in a fight and that is our leader.” Seokmin looked at Jeonghan. “Speaking of which, where is my dear brother?”

\-----

\---


	10. Chapter nine

Chapter nine: The big boss

“If I would’ve known where he ran off this time I would’ve gotten him here.” Jeonghan answered Seokmins question. “I saw him shortly before but he ran off before I could get my hands on him.”

Mingyu snickered knowingly, “He is probably evading you, trying to avoid getting scolded again.” The grin on his face got wider.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face before I do it.” Jeonghan dangerously bit towards him and looked at Soonyoung and the others again. “You are excused for tonight. We will talk again tomorrow. I know what I needed to know for now. Seokmin please call Seungkwan back so he can take them to Chans home.”

“Aye sir.” Seokmin briefly went outside the door, followed by a loud scream. Followed by him and Seungkwan re-entering the room.

\---

“Why are you sitting in my chair, eating my snacks? Again.” To Chans annoyance the figure ignored him and continued eating his potato chips. “Are you even listening to me?” Finally the small figure turned around and looked at him, his innocent face decorated by a big smirk.

“I honestly didn’t know that these were yours Channie.” His melodious voice was taunting as he took the last little chip and playfully put it in his mouth while innocently blinking his eyes. “I would never eat something that you love without your permission.” He said with his mouth full of food, Chans food.

“Oh come on Jihoon! Do you have to be like this?” Chan did his best in hiding his irritation, because he knew that Jihoon simply loved teasing him and he didn’t want to give in to it.

“Do you want the real answer or the sugar coated one?” Jihoon asked him, still munching on the chips. Chan sometimes wondered if the man was actually older than him, his childish looks and behaviour often made people mistake Jihoon for a younger person. He gave Jihoon a look full of disbelieve, how in the world could an adult be this immature. Before he could start talking, Jihoon turned around and grabbed a bag from behind him, “Don’t look at me like that, I actually brought you new snacks to eat. It is just too funny when you make a face like this.” Jihoon threw the bag towards him and Chan saw that it was filled to the brim with his favourite snacks as well as some new stuff.

“What is this?” He asked while lifting up some kind of sugary confection.

“That is the adventure, I don’t know either.” Jihoon said while wiggling his eyebrows at him and Chan knew what he would be doing for the rest of the night. Sometimes Jihoon would do things like this, randomly splurge with food and bring it over to the others.

They would eat and drink the whole night. The most dangerous thing would be when Jihoon or sometimes Jeonghan bought things that no one knew even existed. Those things tend to be either delicious or absolutely disgusting. Thanks to Jeonghan tasting these foods had evolved in a wicked game in which the loser had to eat the food. It does not need much explaining that this game is the favourite of Jihoon and Jeonghan. To the suspicion of the other players Jihoon and Jeonghan seemed to almost never lose the game. Although they were never actually caught cheating they all knew that they cheated in some type of way.

“So are we going over to Seungkwan house to play? You have some unexpected guests in your house right now or did Jeonghan order you to babysit them?” When Dino shook his head in denial Jihoon jumped up and grabbed the bag out of his hands again, running over to the door. “Well come on then, we still need to find our other victims.”

Following behind Jihoon Chan mumbled, “Why do I do this to myself…” He was silently praying to himself hoping that this time there would be no alcohol involved. The last meeting was still fresh in his memory.

\---

When they entered Chans home no one was around. Seungkwan looked around and saw a note on the table. ‘We are invading Seungkwans house, Seungkwan if you read this, Jihoon is with me. Help me. Please! Chan.’ Seungkwans eyes got big as he stared at the note in horror. Hansol instantly was by his side to ask if everything was alright. “No it is not, they are using my house again for their crazy games. Oh my gosh.” Seungkwan started pacing around the room. “Last time they almost managed to burn down my house in the thirty minutes that I left them alone.” Panicked Seungkwan grabbed the note and ran to the door, turning around one last time before leaving. “There is food in the kitchen, prepared by Channie. Byeeee.”

As soon as Seungkwan left the house Soonyoung looked around at Wonwoo and Hansol, “No way in hell that we are going to stay here. We are leaving.”

“Wait for me, I am coming too!” Dongho entered the room, “I learned my way around town so it might come in handy.”

“What about the other scouts that we send into the forest, are they also here?” Wonwoo asked Dongho. The latter confirmed that they were indeed in Grenhil and so Wonwoo faced Soonyoung, “Do we leave them here or are they coming with us too?”

Soonyoung turned around to Dongho, “Actually Dongho you stay here with the others, we will come back to get you all out of here. I would love to take you with us right now, but a larger group will gather attention easier than a small party. Please try to stall here for as long as possible when they find out that we left.”

“Yes sir.”

“I will not be coming with you. I want to stay in the town for a bit longer too.” Hansol spoke up.

“Oh come on, did you really fall that hard for the little blond haired omega?” Soonyoung asked him mockingly.

“No I didn’t!” Hansol denied it quickly but a slight blush was creeping up on his cheeks. “If I stay here they will not suspect that you have left, it will heighten your chances of getting out of this forest.”

Soonyoung thought it over and in the end nodded his head. Hansol was right, if Hansol was still here when Chan came back he could tell him the others were already sleeping. It could be helpful and give them more time. “I am going back to Seungcheol, do you want to write him something?” Hansol grabbed the paper and quill that Wonwoo was holding out for him and quickly scribbled something down on the paper.

“Wonwoo we need some food for our trip. We are going to travel in wolf form, because that is faster. Can you keep up with me?” Soonyoung was doubting the endurance of his friend for good reason.

“No I can’t keep up with you and you know that very well. My stamina is lower than yours.”

“Can you ride horseback?” Hansol asked them, the focus of the group shifting to him once again.

“Why horses all of a sudden?”

“Because the Grenhil pack has a buck load of horses in the main square of the town.” Dongho answered instead of Hansol. “You can ride horseback right?”

Soonyoung sighed and answered, “I was the one who thought you all so of course. In the end I even managed to teach Wonwoo.” The long evenings that Soonyoung had spend teaching Wonwoo were something that he would still use against the latter from time to time. To summarize it, Wonwoo had no natural talent for riding horses. Wonwoo did not like horses and in return horses did not like him either. Not a great match, but in the end he persevered and successfully thought Wonwoo how to ride.

“Good then that’s how you travel.” Hansol concluded, “Anything else?” He handed Soonyoung the piece of paper. Which he carefully folded and packed away in his pocket. Wonwoo went to the kitchen to get some food while Soonyoung and Hansol discussed the best way to hide their escape and started planning their actual escape from the town.

After everything was said and done it was time to go. “Good luck. We will meet again soon.” With confidence in their words Soonyoung and Wonwoo left the house and disappeared into shroud of darkness.

\--- 

“So what I got here is considered a delicacy in this one country.” If you knew Jeonghan and Jihoon for longer than a few hours than this is the point where the alarm bells inside your head started ringing. At least that was the case for Seokmin, Seungkwan and Chan at this moment as Jihoon showed them some weird kind of fermented fish, wiggling it in front of their faces. “Rock, paper, scissors, loser eats the little fishy?”

“How about we take a little break from the game Jihoon, we have been doing this for hours now.” Seokmin pleaded to the merciless omega. “Rather than playing the game I would love to sing a song or something.” The word singing let to a change in expression for all of them. Jihoon quickly got up and ran upstairs, to return a bit later with a guitar in his hands.

“We done this for quite a while…” Chan sighed and sat himself down more comfortably, pulling his knees up towards his head, his arms were folded around his knees and his head rested on top. Jihoon tried the guitar out but seemed a little unhappy with the notes it was producing. With skilful hand movements he started tuning the guitar until he was pleased with the sound. Seungkwan had found himself a little tambourine that he was now holding in his hands. Seokmin sat down next to Chan as Jihoon slowly started playing and Seungkwan started accompanying him. Soon Seungkwans house was filled with their sweet voices creating a melody that sounded longingly and sad but at the same time was beautiful and peaceful to the ears of whoever wanted to hear it.

The front door suddenly opened and Mingyu stepped into the room followed by none other than Jeonghan. The music stopped immediately. “No, why did you stop playing! Its been too long since the last music filled night.” Mingyu complained.

“Chan why are you here? I thought you were supposed to look after your guests?” Jeonghan asked strictly, while giving Chan a stern look.

“Don’t botter going back now Channie, the alpha is long gone by now, probably with the omega. Considering the other alpha has a thing for our Seungkwan, I guess that he stayed.” Jihoon was still unnoticed by Jeonghan until he spoke up. Chan felt guilty, he had completely messed up right now and it was showing on his face. Instead of scolding Chan, Jeonghan turned to Jihoon.

“You totally planned for this to happen didn’t you?” His straightforward question surprised the others in the room that didn’t understand the whole situation. “I wanted to keep them here, keeping our secret safe, you didn’t agree. So you got Chan away knowing full well that he couldn’t refuse your bidding.”

Jihoon put on his most innocent cute face while looking at Jeonghan, “I never would’ve guessed that the alpha would run. The guy was only looking around the whole time Seungkwan guided him through town trying to find possible escape routes. It was quite fun following them around town without getting noticed. Although I was a bit disappointed that Seungkwan ignored my presence as well or were you too distracted by that Hansol alpha?” Seungkwan started blushing and Jihoons smile got wider, “Besides Jeonghan, if you wanted to stop it you could’ve dispatched our scouts to stop them from escaping. Since you are here trying to scold me, I assume that you wanted the same thing to happen. You just didn’t want to admit that I was right when I talked about hiding in the forest for long enough.”

Jeonghan was taken aback. “I taught you too well… It is totally backfiring on me now.” The overly dramatic tone that he used and the grin on his face told the others that Jihoon was right. “So big boss what is the plan?”

The others looked at their leader who started smiling wider as he stood up. “Well, for starters I am going to follow our escapees to Strenyard. Might as well put in a good word with Seungcheol which shouldn’t be too difficult considering our endless charms. No one told them who I am right?” The others shook their head. “Good, in that case Mingyu and Jeonghan you are coming with me as representatives of Grenhil. Seungkwan, Chan and Seokmin you are in charge of Grenhil. Please make sure that the rest of the outsiders don’t flee. These are the only ones that I wanted to escape.” Jihoon carefully laid the guitar that he was still carrying down on the table. “So do you think that they stole our horses after I carefully placed them in the market square this afternoon? According to Chan Wonwoos endurance is not that great.”

Jeonghans mouth dropped open at the statement and Seungkwan exploded next to him, “You let them steal our horses?! Do you know how long it takes to train them like this? Oh my gosh, who am I kidding of course you know, you just don’t care.” He send a glare towards Jihoon, “If they have taken my lovely mare, you are death.”

\---

Minghao and Junhui had travelled non stop for days when they finally reached their destination, the houses of Strenyard decorated the horizon. Still in their wolf forms they ran through out the awakening town scaring some of the townsman that they passed. Literally crashing through the door they ran into the townhall, Seungcheol just came in himself yawning, but the sight of his two friends instantly had him awake. This day was already off to a bad start.

\----

\----


	11. Chapter ten

Chapter ten: Let me tell you a story

“It’s been too long since my last time riding!” Jihoon let go of his reins and stood up in his saddle with his arms stretched wide enjoying the wind in his hair. His brown stallion neighed in response. “Glad that you’re enjoying it too buddy.” Still standing up he turned around to see if the others were still following behind him and was faced with emptiness. “Seems like you are still too fast for the others to follow along Azur, let’s slow down a bit.” He carefully drove his knees into the sides of the horse while ushering him too slow down. Once the horse stood still Jihoon flung his legs over the horse and jumped off into the tall grass underneath them. “Stay here will you?” The horse swung his head up high and scraped the ground with his right front leg. Jihoon smiled, Seungkwan really trained their horses well, sadly the strangers wouldn’t know the amount of commands these horses were taught. Azurs response meant that he had understood and wouldn't move from his position. Their pack had no need to tie their horses to the trees and it was all thanks to Seungkwan. His hands moved on their own to retrieve a small bow from the back of his horse, he swung it over his shoulder and grabbed a few arrows out of their holder next to Azurs saddle. Good to go, he thought as he checked whether his dagger was still attached to his belt and set out to find food for dinner.

\--- 

He hadn’t moved to far when he first heard the voices.

“I am sorry Soonyoung I really can’t go further than this, we have been riding most of the night and the whole day. My ass is killing me.” The deep voice came somewhere from his right, instantly Jihoon hid himself in the long shadows of the trees surrounding him. He obviously hadn’t paid enough attention to the tracks that he had followed…

Before they had gone Chan had checked to see who escaped into the night. Confirming Jihoons earlier assumptions only Soonyoung and Wonwoo had fled from Grenhil. Hansol stayed behind, most likely to distract them from following. Chans whistles into the night signalled the number of escapees to Jihoon, Jeonghan and Mingyu, who set out to Strenyard immediately. Jihoon had to supress his laughter thinking about Seungkwans outburst when he found out that the two had indeed stolen his favourite mare, Luna. Taking in consideration that Luna was a total sweetheart and loved food more than anything in the world aside from Seungkwan, Jihoon understood why they had taken the mare. The calm horse would be better than taking another more spirited horse such as Jihoons own stallion. His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps coming closer to his location. If he stayed still he would most likely be spotted in a matter of minutes. His eyes roamed around in a tree to his left he saw a few doves. In a swift movement he took a small stone in his hand and threw it towards the doves, scaring them and causing them to fly up into the air. The footsteps moved away from his position towards the tree where the doves had been only mere seconds ago. He breathed out calmly as his feet started to find their way back into the woods. Once he was at a distance that he deemed save enough he stared running towards Azur. Stopping the others from riding into the strangers was his first priority.

Once he reached the place he had halted Azur he was greeted by the smell of roasted meat and the warm smiles of Mingyu and Jeonghan.

“Welcome back Jihoonie, did you bring more food?” Mingyu happily asked him but his smile faded away once he saw the others serious expression and empty hands.

“We are already too close to them. Jeonghan you two will take the small pathway that leads to the old road. Make sure you reach Strenyard before they do. I want to tell Seungcheol about our pack ourselves instead of them telling the story. A story with good reasoning is better than people saying we kidnap people.”

“Wait are you not coming along?” Jeonghans curiosity was awakened. His eyebrows slightly raised as he looked at the younger man in front of him shook his head.

“No, I already found them without even wanting too. We didn’t tell the scouts that they are allowed to leave Grenhil forest. Someone has to make sure that they are not taken out and carried back to Grenhil.”

“Don’t get in trouble.” He continued when Jihoon remained silent. “Please take care of yourself. Do we need to take Azur with us?”

“No, I need Azur to be able to keep up with them. I promise to be careful.”

“So what about dinner, are you still joining us?”

Jeonghan and Jihoon turned to Mingyu who stood by the fire watching over the remains of two rabbits that were slowly roasting in the flames. “Only if you can guarantee that Jeonghan didn’t touch the food or add any of his weird seasonings.” Jihoon smirked at Jeonghan and walked towards Mingyu, licking his lips when the smell of the food reached his nose.

“That was only one time!” Jeonghan protested, “And it wasn’t that bad!”

Mingyu and Jihoon shared a look while remembering the aftermath of Jeonghans notorious beef stew. “Sure…”

After dinner Jihoon quickly gathered his belongings and said his goodbyes to Jeonghan and Mingyu. “I will join you in Strenyard when the other two arrive. Knowing the pack dynamics of most packs, they will assume that Mingyu who is an alpha is our leader. Jeonghan it is up to you to use that knowledge to our advantage. Mingyu,” He looked at the tall alpha, “please don’t screw this up, you have to act like a leader for once.”

“So I get to boss Jeonghan around?!” Mingyu sounded like an overly excited puppy. “No grudges afterwards?”

“Don’t even think about it.” Jeonghan warned.

“Well I think that I need to go now. I will try to buy you some extra time for explaining our story to Seungcheol, however I can’t promise that it will work out.”

“Sounds good to me. See you in a few days Jihoonie.” Mingyu ducked in order to dodge Jihoons fist that was flying towards his head.

“Don’t do that to our poor little Jihoonie, he gets upset when you call him that.” Jeonghan chimed in. You don’t get a lot of chances to bother Jihoon without getting a beaten, but since they had to hurry to Strenyard Jihoon couldn’t afford to lose any more time now.

“But his annoyed face looks so cute, it makes me want to pinch his cheeks.” Jihoons face was starting to flush a bright red colour. Seizing their chance Mingyu and Jeonghan both moved forward to pinch Jihoons cheeks and run for their live afterwards, before an angry Jihoon could react and grab his weapons. Laughing they ran towards their already saddled and packed horses leaving the fuming third person behind.

“COWARDS!” Jihoon stomped his feet on the ground to vent his anger. Trying to calm himself down, he shut his eyes and tried to breath in and out slowly, counting the time between every breath. With a final deep sigh he turned around and walked towards Azur. Time to go.

\--- 

Strenyard

“So you’re telling me that both Soonyoung and Wonwoo are missing in the forest.” Jisoos sharp voice cut through the air, totally different from his normal calm and soft way of speaking. “Who tells me your pack members didn’t dump them inside the forest?”

“In case you didn’t notice, my right hand man is missing too. We should’ve send more troops. Why did I listen to that stupid Soonyoung.” Seungcheol was worried about his younger companion that had not returned from the forest. His family had always looked after Hansol and he saw him as a younger brother. Minghao and Junhui had told him the story of what happened in the forest. Wonwoo had overheard strangers talking near their camp. Soonyoung was out in the forest and didn’t make it back to the camp in time, so they decided to leave a message for him at the camp and make a run for it. However Wonwoo couldn’t keep up and Hansol decided to stay with him, after which Minghao and Junhui lost them.

But as easy as it was to lose track of their travel companions, shaking of their pursuers proved to be a lot more difficult. They had been lucky that Junhui spotted a shadow in the tree line nearby otherwise they would’ve most likely not made it back to Strenyard. Using the sign language that they had developed together Junhui informed Minghao of the presence nearby. After that they worked together and tried to catch the person that was sneaking up on them. Sadly for them, they failed but it did gain them more time to get away. Luckily there was just one person following them, because unbeknown to the two men, the others were distracted by trying to catch Soonyoung, Hansol and Wonwoo.

“Whoever is in that forest I will catch them myself if I have too.” Jisoo continued his rant, “my best friends are in there. I will gather more troops and rescue them.”

“Calm down you, let’s wait a few more days, maybe they escaped as well. Minghao and Junhui were quite fast, it is still possible that they were trailing behind. Besides if you are going to that forest, I insist that I am coming with you.” Seungcheol reasoned. “You are not the only one that lost people to that forest.”

“I will wait one week. I need to inform my pack to get ready anyways.”

Seungcheol approved of that. He send Junhui and Minghao away to get some rest before returning to his own work. Missing people or not, he still had work to do. The town needed to be governed and he was responsible for doing just that.

\---

Jeonghan and Mingyu took the abandoned road and were able to reach Strenyard in three days. “Why don’t we normally use this road? It is much faster than the new road.” Mingyu asked Jeonghan.

Jeonghan sighed, “Jihoon didn’t want us using this road, because Seungcheol has send men to follow us on more occasions than one. If we had taken this road it would have been suspicious, since it stops halfway through the mountains after a landslide several years ago. Which is why we don’t use the road as it is blocked.” Mingyu remained silent. “So instead of asking questions do you have any idea on how to address the issue at hand?” Jeonghan continued, “I have been thinking about it ever since we left Grenhil, but I don’t think barging in and saying who we are is a good plan. ‘Hey Seungcheol we are the pack that lives in the eastern mountain and we have been kidnapping your clansman that were stupid enough to enter our forest for years. That includes your friend Hansol.’ Somehow I don’t think that Seungcheol would appreciate it.”

“Maybe you can try to tell more about our pack first instead of straight up telling him that we are keeping his people as our captives. Jihoon said that telling our story would be useful.” Mingyu added dryly. “That sounds like a better way to start a conversation to me. It might save us from being attacked instantly.”

They rode their horses into the town and made their way over to the familiar stone town hall. Without a notice or a warning Jeonghan simply barged in followed by Mingyu, only to find the room empty.

\---

The first thing Seungcheol noticed was a familiar sweet scent reaching his sensitive nose. It confused him however, this scent was not supposed to be here and even without asking he knew that something was off when he walked briskly to the main room of the town hall. Before opening the door he noticed another scent mingled in with the sweet flowery scent, this one heavier with a slightly spicier undertone that he was also able to instantly recognize. The problem was that there were some scents missing that normally would accompany these two. He opened the door with a more force than he initially wanted too, resulting in slamming the heavy oak wooden doors against the wall with a loud bang. The two persons in the room turned around to face them, his nose had told him the truth only Jeonghan and Mingyu were staring at him in surprise.

Normally the merchants would come to Strenyard every month or so, but now only two weeks had passed since their last visit. The pretty omega stared at him with an intense look that he had not seen on his face before. Something was definitely off and it was not only that half of the merchants party was missing.

“What happened, where are the others?” His voice was dripping in concern and anxiety even though he didn’t know the merchants that well he had still developed a soft spot for the omega merchants courage and knowledge. The quick exchange of looks that Mingyu and Jeonghan shared fuelled his fears more. “Don’t tell me you were attacked near the forest! I offered protection to you guys more than once but you always declined it. I just knew that this would happen one day.” Although his help was politely declined and he knew that he shouldn’t feel guilty about not persisting, he still felt guilt washing over him. Before he could continue asking and filling the blanks in himself Mingyu started talking.

“Don’t worry nothing happened to our group members, they are all safe.” His reassuring smile calmed Seungcheol down a bit, but anxiety and an unknown tension were still filling the room. “Something did happen to your own people though.”

Seungcheol was surprised to say the least, maybe even shocked that they knew something happened to Hansol. As far as he knew only Junhui, Minghao, Jisoo and he himself knew what happened in the eastern forest. It didn’t occur to him to ask how they knew, he just stared at them with his mouth hanging open. His appearance long gone and replaced by concern for his close friend, his facial features full of questions that he had yet to ask.

“I am sorry Seungcheol, but we need to talk.” Jeonghan spoke as he walked towards the alpha, “And you might want to take a seat for this.” That didn’t help, because now Seungcheol was convinced that Hansol was murdered in the most horrifying manner and that the persons standing in front of him had witnessed it. You couldn’t really blame him for it, apparently they knew something happened and there was no way for Seungcheol to explain where Hansol would be if he wasn’t death or at least injured. Walking towards his chair with his shoulders hanging low, hunching his back, he seemed nothing like his normal confident self.

“Jeonghan I’m sorry, but I think that the detailed explaining can wait for a bit.” Mingyu turned towards Seungcheol with an ensuring smile on his face. “Seungcheol, Hansol is fine he is with our people and I promise you that nothing will happen to him as long as he stays with them.” Mingyu sighed as he continued, “Like Jeonghan said you might want to sit down, get some food and something to drink, because this will be a long story I’m afraid.”

Seungcheol was a bit dumbfounded but suddenly he remembered something, “Hansol isn’t the only one that is missing! What about the others that were part of the group?” He rang a bell on his table and soon after the door behind him was opened by a servant, “Call Jisoo, Minghao and Junhui!” Facing towards Mingyu and Jeonghan again, “Whatever you are going to tell me, I want them to know too.”

Without Seungcheol noticing Jeonghan gave Mingyu a nod of approval that it was alright if more people listened. Soon after the three people entered the room. Minghao and Junhui were faces that Jeonghan and Mingyu knew from their other visits to Strenyard, Jisoo however was a new face that they both hadn’t seen before. Jisoo must have felt the same because as soon as he entered he bowed in their direction.

“I fear that we have not had the pleasure of meeting before,” The man seemed a true gentleman, soft-spoken and polite. “My name is Hong Jisoo and I am actually part of the Vanghgard pack, while my head alpha is gone I am in charge of leading the pack.”

Jeonghan looked at Mingyu expectantly, to which Mingyu quickly replied while pointing at both himself and Jeonghan, “My name is Kim Mingyu and this is Yoon Jeonghan. We are merchants that come to trade with the Strenyard pack from time to time. This time we are here for a different purpose. As we told Seungcheol before we have information about your friends, but that is not all.”

Jeonghan deemed it time to step in and help his fellow pack member, “As Seungcheol knows we have been trading with his pack for a few generations now, however our own origins were always unknown. Our leaders never wanted to share the knowledge of our packs existence in order to guarantee the safety of the pack. Sometimes we took quite harsh measures to protect our friends and family. The reason for telling this is because it affected your friends. Our pack is called the Grenhil pack and we live in a place called Grenhil, which is known to others as the eastern mountain forest.”

Four heads instantly snapped in his direction at the mention of the forest. The mood in the room got dark and heavy, Jeonghan sensed aggression and danger in the scent of Seungcheol. Next to him he felt Mingyu tense up and change his posture to a more defensive one. Trying to shield Jeonghan by guiding him behind him. From the corner of his eyes Jeonghan saw Minghao reach for something around his belt. “Mingyu stand back, Seungcheol I ask you to stop your friends from attacking just yet.”

Seungcheol himself felt betrayal and anger boiling up. These people were responsible for the mysterious disappearances of so many of his pack members and here he had been trading with them as if nothing was wrong. Gritting his teeth he looked Jeonghan in the eyes but saw nothing but sincerity in them. His anger suddenly faded, he had trusted these people without knowing them for years, they might have some dirty tactics for trading but they were never aggressive in any way. Slowly he relaxed all of his muscles and urged Minghao to do the same. “You better have a good explanation otherwise I don’t think that Minghao will let you leave this building.” The expression on Jeonghans face was unwavering but the expression on Mingyu’s face was a bit alarming to Seungcheol. It was as if he had already measured his opponent and seen every outcome of a possible fight. A fight in which Mingyu would end up as the victor without much effort. It only showed for a mere second after that the expression was gone, replaced by a more serious one that didn’t tell such an obvious story.

“Should I tell or do you want to tell it Jeonghan?” Mingyu asked the stunning looking omega.

“I will.” Jeonghan gave Mingyu a slight push to get him out of his defensive position in front of him. With another deep sigh he started his story. “But I will tell the short version if you don’t mind.”

“The history of our pack goes back a few centuries, back when the Strenyard pack didn’t even exist and all the mountain roads had yet to be build. Our ancestors were the first to settle in these mountains, a place that was deemed to unruly and dangerous by other packs. The Grenhil forest was a dangerous place and it still is if you don’t know your way around. The trees are dense blocking most of the daylight in large parts of the forest, the hills are steep and if you don’t watch your feet you find yourself falling down high cliffs that couldn’t be seen just a few steps before you fall down. The forests are dangerous and the mountains treacherous with earthquakes and land slides causing difficulties for whoever wants to pass through them, let alone build a place to live. Besides that the forests are a home to many wild animals such as bears, foxes and even rogue mountain lions make their way up into this isolated place. The forest that is now the home to our people used to be a place that was used for religious purposes. Rituals that tested the courage and leadership of alphas would take place on it’s outskirts, but even the bravest alphas wouldn’t dare venture to far into the wilderness.

Just that information would make any sane person wonder why our ancestors chose the Grenhil forest as their homeland and let me tell you that it was out of pure necessity that they ended up in the forest. As any educated person should know, most packs have a strict hierarchy. By nature alphas are more dominant than betas and omegas. Therefore alphas rule a pack, with betas helping out. Omegas however are normally smaller and weaker than both of the other sub genders. By nature they are caring and kind, with a natural beauty that should attract possible mates. Although the practice is less common nowadays, back then it was normal for packs to supress omegas, they were exploited, seen as unworthy and mostly used to do the dirty work. Omegas tended to houses, children and normal day life, always second to the higher up betas and alphas, having to obey their every command. In some packs it was worse than others and omegas were severely mistreated without others trying to step in and help them out.”

Jeonghan let his eyes roam over the faces of his audience as he let as a little silence pass before continuing his story.

“The ancestors of my pack fled from one of those packs long ago. A pack that was horrible to their omegas, mistreating and misusing them. Omegas were thrown around between different alphas, used as some kind of toy. Beside that they had to do every possible chore there was. Our ancestors were underfed, dressed poorly, bruised and broken, forced to mate against their own will and raped. That was deemed normal in their original pack. One day they had enough and a few omegas got together to create an escape plan. The pack to which they belonged used to inhabit the southern coastline at the base of the mountains, still quite far from this forest. However the stories of a forest that no alpha dared to enter reached their ears and they started plotting their escape. They were with only a few adult omegas and had to carry children with them, not wanting to leave them behind with that horrible pack. In order to even reach the forest there had to be a distraction, one of the oldest omegas volunteered to create a distraction, risking the wrath of the alphas and most likely death. That omega let the alphas that chased the escaping omegas to the opposite direction from where the others would go. Making false tracks, leaving pieces of cloth worn by the omegas to create a scent path. The alphas fell for it. The other group with omegas used special herbs that they found to mask their own scent during their escape, making it difficult for the alphas to follow them.

That is how they even reached the forest in the first place. In the end the alphas did follow them but most of their pursuers didn’t have the courage to enter the forest. The ones that did follow did not survive the dangers that the wilderness holds. Somehow by a miracle our ancestors did survive, despite losses along the way that were deeply mourned. It was as if they had the gods on their side, helping them out in their escape.

After roaming around the forest for multiple moons our ancestors stumbled upon a lake, hidden from the eyes of strangers by high mountains, rock constructions and trees taller than they had ever seen. The shores of the lake was where they eventually settled down and started building their own society from the bottom up. Instead of building their houses on the side of the lake the omegas decided to create a town high up in the trees, connecting every house with rope bridges. This protected them from animals that still roam the forest today and that could’ve attacked them had they settled on the ground. Of course with only a few omegas, a pack wouldn’t have formed. The word of their successful escape reached the ears of other omegas that tried their luck. Although many lost their lives trying to reach the place that we still call home. A safe heaven for omegas settled between emerald green hills, with fertile earth to farm. The second wave of refugees that entered the forest existed not only of omegas but also a few betas. Some omegas even travelled when pregnant. In the span of then years a small town had been build with over a hundred inhabitants and was named Grenhil.

With more and more omegas trying to escape their packs to the rumoured safe place in the forest the alphas of those packs became restless and started sending scouts into the forest to find our home. They were armed and ready to fight when they entered the forest. The alphas trained in hand to hand combat, carrying swords, axes and spears while venturing through the forest. As they got closer and closer to finding our home, our ancestors had to do something to defend themselves. The population of Grenhil existed mostly out of omegas, not trained in combat at all and in hand to hand combat they would stand no chance against the heavily armed alphas that started swarming the forest. Our ancestors had to develop our own style of fighting in order to survive, a style of martial arts that we still use nowadays. Weapons were developed that could be used from a safe distance from the alphas, hidden from within the shadows of the trees. Skills that we still teach all our children to this day, no matter which sub-gender. Our martial arts are still in development, with every generation of pack members creating new skills and techniques.”

Minghao perked up at the mention of martial arts with interest and curiosity in his eyes.

“The most important skills that we teach our people is to move throughout the forest without being noticed. We move through trees and over the ground leaving as little tracks as possible. Using herbs and other techniques we hide our scents from others.

Since nowadays our existence in the forest is unknown to other packs, you should be able to figure out that our ancestors were successful in driving the alphas out. In the end the packs surrounding the forest said that the forest was cursed and that all the omegas, betas and alphas that went inside it must have died. The rumour about our hometown ceased to exist in a few decades time and no one normally entered the forest. Until a few hundred years later your own pack settled right here on the edge of the forest. Observing the way hierarchy worked in your pack back in those days our ancestors decided that people shouldn’t be allowed to find Grenhil. Our scouts continuously roam around the forest trying to find possible intruders. Our ancestors would take out hostile alphas using arrows or darts from a safe distance, the risk of discovery was too big to neglect. In order to protect our own society our ancestors choose to kill alphas that entered the forest…”

Jeonghan felt a shudder go through his spine as in front of him Seungcheol was starting to emit a hostile presence. His whole aura changed and all the alarm bells inside Jeonghans head were starting to ring danger.

“Betas or omegas were always taken back to Grenhil and offered the choice to integrate into our society. If they tried to escape they would face the same fate as the alphas. Although only a few betas ever tried to go back to their old packs after seeing our home.”

Seungcheol was starting to clench his fists, the veins in his neck clearly visible, while his face was starting to turn red in anger and his eyes started to glimmer a feint blue colour. With a quick glance towards Mingyu Jeonghan saw that his packmate was also starting to emit his own pheromones in order to protect Jeonghan, creating a defensive atmosphere around him. This was starting to get out of hand… Junhui, Jisoo and Minghao were also starting to fidget in their seats, clearly affected by the sheer amount of pressure coming from the two alphas on opposite sides of the room.

“Before you misunderstand, we didn’t harm Hansol, nor do we harm alphas that enter the forest nowadays. We just take them back to Grenhil, where they are allowed to live themselves. If after a few years they want to leave they can but only if they swear to never tell strangers about our home. Our society is different from most others, because of the history of our pack we don’t have a strict hierarchy with sub genders. All people in Grenhil have equal rights and an omega is allowed to do everything he wants without restrictions. We are governed by our pack leader who is advised by a counsel made up of five other pack members. The counsellors watch over our every day live and make sure that every pack member is treated well. Besides that the counsellors and the leader are responsible for trading our goods. Actually Strenyard is the only pack that we trade with, it is near our forest which makes us feel safe and in recent memory your pack has treated their members well. Which is why we came here to sell our diamonds, hides, pelts and other excess goods.

The reason why I am standing in front of you is because our leader has decided that it is time to stop hiding or at least tell people we trust enough of our pack.”

Jeonghan fell silent and looked at Mingyu, who understood and continued talking, “We have traded with your pack for a few decades but never told you were our pack was from. Your father and grandfather trusted us and so do you. We want to return the trust by telling you our own story and we want to help protect Strenyard. You have forged an allegiance with a warrior pack yourself for safety reasons which tells us that you fear the other packs quite a lot. If your pack can’t resist the upcoming dangers than we are not sure about our own safety without allegiances. We are here to ask you to consider forming an allegiance with Grenhil in order to withstand the coming storms.”

“Where is Hansol?” Was all Seungcheol asked, his anger from before had subsided and was now replaced by worry.

“The last time I saw him he was staring at one of our packmates, Seungkwan. I wouldn’t worry about him if I were you. He chose to stay in Grenhil himself, whereas the others,” Mingyu faced Jisoo, “decided to try their luck by running away and stealing our horses. Most likely they are thinking that we are following them and that you should rescue Hansol. If we wanted to they wouldn’t have been able to escape Grenhil, let alone the forest. They should arrive here in a few hours if my calculations are correct.”

“So where is your leader.” Seungcheol suddenly asked, “I refuse to believe that Mingyu is your leader after getting to know him the last few years. Sorry to say it Mingyu, but I don’t think your leadership skills are noteworthy.”

Mingyu pouted at that, whereas Jeonghan couldn’t resist laughing. Mingyu looked like a kid whose favourite toy was taken away. After his laughter had subsided Jeonghan answered, “Don’t worry in time you will meet him. Let me introduce myself a bit better now, I guess that we should’ve appointed another person to look like a leader. My name is Yoon Jeonghan, an omega and one of the five counsellors of Grenhil.”

Mingyu straightened his back and tried to make himself look even taller than he already was as he also introduced himself. “Nice to meet you all, my name is Kim Mingyu, I am also one of the five counsellors of Grenhil.”

\----


	12. Chapter eleven

Chapter eleven: Who are you?

Jihoon had been enjoying his time alone in the forest, trailing behind Soonyoung and Wonwoo unnoticed, making good use of Azurs ability to walk silently. The sun was shining brightly this morning, reflecting on the small droplets of water on the grass and the bright green leaves of the old giants surrounding him on all sides after yesterday’s short rain shower. The forest was bustling with different noises, birds were trying to find mates, battling each other for the most beautiful song. Flowers in a different array of colours were growing towards the rays of sunlight that managed to reach the surface. Bees humming busily from one flower to another. Without thinking Jihoon found himself humming along to the songs of the birds, influenced by the spring fever that was surrounding him. Closing his eyes he let Azur lead the way feeling blessed and happy to spend his time in peace for once, totally forgetting the mission he had given himself for a short while.

That was until Azur suddenly halted and scraped the floor with his hoof, while neighing softly in alarm, interrupting Jihoons dreams of peace and quiet. He instantly shot up and scanned his surroundings and in front of him saw two dark brown eyes staring down in his own. For once unsure of how to handle the situation Jihoon let go of his reigns in the surprise. The person in front of him started moving backwards slowly but surely. Regaining his senses Jihoon sat up again, “Sorry for startling you! I didn’t mean to, I am on my way to Strenyard to meet some of my family.”

At the mention of the town the person in front of him showed a sign of recognition on his face, which vanished quickly to be replaced by a stone cold expression of distrust. Swinging his legs over the saddle Jihoon jumped of Azur onto the ground, his small stature seemed to instantly calm the person in front of him. Being completely honest to himself Jihoon knew that his small frame posed little threat to most people. Which was one of the first mistakes that people made when judging him. Still it was disappointing that people only saw his small frame and instantly thought of him as weak.

“I don’t want to harm you,” Jihoon continued talking to the person in front of him, who still hadn’t dropped his guard. “My name is Woozi.” Using his favourite alter ego once again he tried to gain the trust of the other person. “Why are you traveling alone omega?” The tall cold looking omega in front off him continued his silence.

==

Wonwoo had seen the person in front of him approaching slowly on the tall brown horse, he had been riding with his eyes closed, bobbing his head to the sides while humming softly with a pleasant sound. The person had obviously been startled when the horse suddenly stopped and had looked at Wonwoo with confusion in his eyes, as if he didn’t know what was happening around him, his black hair rustling in the wind.

However the person had quickly recovered and started talking to him from high up on the back of his horse. The moment the person had jumped of the horse Wonwoo had been surprised at the size of the small beta standing in front of him. How could a young boy like him be traveling alone in this dangerous forest? His frame was small and although he was certainly muscular, Wonwoo wasn’t sure if the boy could defend himself from attackers. He was pushing his hair back with one hand, trying to get it out of his eyes. His round innocent face showed a serious expression while looking at Wonwoo. Somewhere in the distance Wonwoo could hear the strangers voice telling him that he wouldn’t harm him, not that Wonwoo gave the person much chance of hurting him. Even without any combat training Wonwoo thought he would be able to beat the smaller.

When the smaller finally asked why he was traveling alone Wonwoo became aware of Soonyoungs absence, the alpha had left him behind to do some scouting in the area and search for fresh meat to supplement their simple dinner of dried fruits and the simple wheat flat bread that Wonwoo made them.

Woozi had been staring at him while he remained silent, staying right where he was. With a last calculating glance over at Wonwoo, Woozi turned around slightly puffing his cheeks in annoyance at the continuing quietness surrounding the both of them. Rustling in his saddlebags Woozi took out three apples, stuffing one of them in his own mouth and handing the one of the remaining two apples to his horse after removing the bit from it’s mouth. Mumbling with the apple in his mouth Woozi slowly moved over towards Wonwoo with the apple stretched out in front of him, offering the food to the omega. The small boyish man facial expression questioning and unsure of himself. Still a bit hesitant Wonwoo reached out his hand to accept the apple from the stranger in front of him, unsure why he didn’t distrust Woozi more. When his hands folded around the apple Woozi’s face lit up in a wide smile, that turned his eyes into small crescents and made him look even more youthful.

After Wonwoo accepted the apple Woozi turned around and walked back to his horse, only to return soon after with a blanket in his hands. Starting to happily hum again the small beta unfolded the blanket and spread it out on the ground near a large tree. Apple still in his mouth he sat down with his back resting comfortably against the oak tree behind him. Wonwoo found himself shaking his head as he slowly sat down next to the smaller. Quietly munching on their apples both man sat side by side for some time until Wonwoo noticed the head of the other slowly falling down towards his shoulder as the boy had closed his eyes and was drifting into a deep slumber with a content smile gracing his facial features. It took Wonwoo only a few more minutes to completely let go of his own guard as he himself made himself more comfortable and slowly fell lost his consciousness as sleep took over.

\---

The scent was the first thing that Soonyoung noticed when he approached the site where he had previously left Wonwoo. A faint flowery fragrance had mingled in with Wonwoos own distinct scent that Soonyoung would recognize anywhere. Approaching slowly he saw Wonwoo leaning against a tree, eyes closed, sleeping peacefully. His muscles relaxed when he saw no other persons around his best friend and he decided to let the omega sleep some more while he started a fire. The sound of footsteps approaching made him turn his head to see Wonwoo behind him rubbing his eyes.

“Welcome back.” He mumbled, his voice deeper and more raspy since he just woke up.

“Want some food?”

The weary appearance was replaced by excitement over food, sparkles in his eyes as Wonwoo looked over his shoulder to the fire. Soonyoung had found a huge flat stone that he had placed across the smouldering firewood to warm up. He was holding a small bowl filled with a dough made out of wheat flour and water. Using his hands he took a little of the sticky dough and carefully spread it out on the stone, the sizzling sound it produced made his mouth water in anticipation. To accompany the flat bread Soonyoung was roasting some meat on a simple skewer over the fire. A few fresh leaves of plantain that he had gathered on his patrol earlier would serve as a wrapper for the meat.

After their quick lunch Wonwoo was restless, “Was I alone when you came back?” When Soonyoung answered affirmative he continued, “I could have sworn that I met someone this morning.” His eyes roamed around the camp and spotted the blanket that he had previously laid down on. “THE BLANKET!” His sudden scream startled Soonyoung who jumped up immediately searching for danger.

“What the hell Wonwoo, what was that for!?”

“The blanket I slept on, it is not ours, I got it from the stranger. I also got an apple, but he left?”

“Wait you met a stranger and you didn’t think that telling me would be a necessary?”

“Ah he told me his name, Woozi.” Wonwoo continued rattling on about the weird meeting while Soonyoung just stared at his friend in disbelief. Suddenly remembering the horse Wonwoo ran over to the place it was before and noticed the tracks on the ground. “He really was here! This are the tracks that his horse made.” He exclaimed happily.

“Wait hold up a minute, did you call him Woozi?”

“Uhu, that was how he called himself, why?”

“Remember when I told you that I was brought to Grenhil by a guy that I met in the forest? His name was also Woozi. Short, black hair, cute looking but apparently quite dangerous and clearly has some affiliation with the Grenhil pack.”

“Oh…” Was all that Wonwoo said for a while, before stating the obvious, “Meeting him is most likely not good is it?”

With a deep sigh Soonyoung settled himself down on the ground. “Well if he wanted to bring you back he would’ve.”

“Or he waited for you to come around?” Wonwoo suggested but Soonyoung shook his head.

“Then he wouldn’t have left.”

“Who said that I left?” Getting flashbacks to his last meeting with Woozi Soonyoung instantly looked up into the trees and spotted the short male sitting comfortably above their heads. “Don’t worry I am not bringing you back to Grenhil. Besides if I wouldn’t have brought you to Grenhil others would’ve.”

“So what does bring you here?” The sarcastic undertone in Soonyoungs voice didn’t disturb Woozi in the slightest.

“I was bored, you are going back to Strenyard right?” Woozi jumped down from his high place and landed next to Soonyoung with ease. “I want to come with you.”

Soonyoung was sure that the other would follow them anyways if he said no. Being able to keep an eye on the smaller seemed like a better option than having him sneak behind them. However his pride as an alpha would not let him admit that. “How about no?”

“As if you can stop me?” Woozi was clearly mocking him now, stretching his arms in front of him and making a few quick slashing moves with them. “I still remember the last time you challenged me. Did you tell Wonwoo yet?” His interest switched towards the omega. “Did he already tell you how I got him to follow me to Grenhil?”

“No,” Wonwoo with a slightly unsure voice, but Woozi’s sudden mischievous expression fuelled his curiosity, “But feel free to enlighten me.” The small beta had a certain charm about him that was hard to ignore, his mischievous attitude was addictive.

Woozi snickered and opened his mouth to answer but Soonyoung was quick to cover his mouth with his hands in order to shut the short male up. The childish behaviour from Soonyoung surprised Wonwoo, normally Soonyoung was perfectly able to act mature and he would only ever drop his guard around Wonwoo or Jisoo, but never with strangers. Not that he was one to talk, he trusted the small male all too easily before. Having him travel with them would at least make their travels less boring. “You can come with us Woozi, don’t mind the sulky alpha.”

“I am not sulky!” But Soonyoungs entire demeanour betrayed him, a frown on his head, cheeks a bit puffy. Wonwoo couldn’t keep himself from grinning from ear to ear at the display in front of him.

“Thank you! In that case let me return the favour by guiding you through the forest unnoticed. That might help right?” Woozi offered and the two members of the Vanghgard pack quickly accepted.

The next few days they would travel mostly in silence, with Woozi guiding them through the forest as promised. Soonyoung didn’t trust the smaller male but he had to admit that the guy was a good guide and had kept his word about protecting them from pursuers. Still something was off about the short male. He wouldn’t sleep at their camp but moved away and only came back in the morning. Which was highly suspicious to Soonyoung, however Wonwoo didn’t seem to make a big deal about it. Woozi was hiding something from them and Soonyoung vowed to himself that he would find out what it was. For now however he couldn’t do much about it as they continued on their way towards Strenyard.

On the morning of the third day Woozi halted and signalled Wonwoo and Soonyoung to come closer. With his finger in front of his lips he communicated them to be as silent as they could. Once they were close enough he pointed towards a nearby bush. Just as Soonyoung was about to ask what was wrong, a fox emerged from the bush followed by three small cubs. Wonwoo was absolutely absorbed by the scene in front of him. It was not often that you would see the shy forest animals and seeing a mother fox with her cubs was really rare, as they would normally be in the den. Soonyoung looked to his right and saw the kind smile plastered on Woozi’s face. When the fox and her cubs disappeared out of their sight, Woozi tugged slightly on his reigns and continued on.

Wonwoo was still smiling brightly next to him as they rode further towards the west. When the sun stood high across the sky Woozi dismounted form his horse and grabbed a small bow from behind it’s saddle as well as a few arrows. Giving a small nod with his head, he turned around on his heels and walked into the dense forest soon vanished in the shadows. His horse stood where he left it behind, which still surprised Soonyoung, because normally you would have to tie a horse down otherwise they would run off. However Azur simply stayed wherever Woozi left him. The horse gave Soonyoung some assurance that Woozi would return to their camp later on and calmed his nerves a bit.

“It’s weird right?” Wonwoo said next to him, “I don’t even know him at all, but somehow I feel like I should trust him. We don’t know anything about the guy. He seems like a small child, but behaves like an adult, clearly knows his way with weapons and apparently travels this forest frequently since he can orientate himself easily. Hell, I am not even sure if he is a part of the Grenhil pack. Although it does seem likely.” Wonwoo voiced out all the concerns that had been bothering Soonyoung. “I am not even sure about him being a beta…”

That was something that Soonyoung hadn’t thought off at all. Woozi didn’t emit any sort of distinct scent, which is normal for betas. Alphas tend to have a very strong scent whereas omegas have a sweeter scent. His mind went back to him entering the clearing before and the faint flowery scent that had lingered there. Could it be? He shook his head, dismissing the thought. Although Woozi’s features were clearly on the softer and cuter side and he certainly was charming, kind and sweet in nature despite being hardened by nature and being an excellent fighter. He kept pondering about it for the next half an hour until Woozi returned with a few birds in his hands that he had shot down for lunch.

“We are close to the main road now, I say we eat lunch and get going again afterwards. You should be able to arrive in Strenyard this evening.”

Woozi had at least guided them nicely, it had only been a week since Soonyoung and Wonwoo left Grenhil and they were almost at Strenyard. Which meant that they should be in Strenyard pack territory by now.

\---

Seungkwan was marching up and down the room, his footsteps heavily as he listened to the scout reports for the second time. This was bad and what made it even worse was that Jihoon and Jeonghan weren’t in town to solve the problem. At the table Seokmin had his head in his hands in deep thought, Chan stood near the window frame with a troubled expression. In front of him Hansol was focussed on the scout. After initially hearing the reports Seungkwan had been completely lost. Realizing Hansol was one of Strenyards main advisers he had called for the alpha. A deep sigh from the scout signalled that he had finished his report, with a flick of his hand Seungkwan dismissed him. Once the scout left the room he turned to Hansol, “So what do you think we should do next?”


	13. Chapter twelve

Chapter twelve: Premonitions

It had been a long five days for Hansol. After his initial happiness about Soonyoung and Wonwoo leaving Grenhil safely was replaced by the reality of them escaping being part of a plan he had felt down. Chan didn’t bother him too much and he was free to roam around Grenhil, so he slowly learned more about the place and its people. From what he saw the townsmen were all content with their lives. He met several people that originally stemmed from different packs but had been brought to Grenhil after traveling too far into the forest. They all told him the various stories of their lives before living in Grenhil. He soon learned that the members of the Grenhil pack had a considerable amount of freedom in their everyday lives. There wasn’t really a status quo and their leaders were well loved. The economy was really good, no one ever went hungry. Their houses were build rather well and were able to survive earthquakes and storms alike. There weren’t a lot of downsides to living in this pack, with all its advanced knowledge. Schools were free for all and everyone got educated. Children were required to learn the ins and outs of the forest as part of their education, together with fighting and surviving skills. For the people that weren’t originally from Grenhil there was only one regret. They missed their own families and friends. Some were even missing their mates, which takes a considerable toll on your mental stability. If a person couldn’t adapt to live in the pack they were given the opportunity to leave Grenhil, but only after making several oaths to never lead others towards the town and to never threaten it. Spies and scouts would follow those people around once they left the town and if they did speak up, it was likely that they would meet an untimely end.

The Grenhil forest was apparently filled with several outposts in which scouts would spend most of their days in between missions. No one was able to enter the forest unnoticed and even outside the forest members of the pack would roam around in search off information. It was one of those scouts that had returned to Grenhil that morning and his message had caused a commotion in the castle. After intitially hearing the message Seungkwan, who Hansol had gotten a lot closer with in the past few days, had send for him in order to get his opinion about the matter. Right now said Grenhil member was looking at him expectantly after the report had been read once again.

“Is there any way of communication that you can use to contact your pack members in Strenyard?” Hansol asked Seungkwan.

“Normally we take pigeons with us when traveling so that we can release them to send messages to home if something was to happen, but as far as I know the pigeons we have right now have never been to Strenyard, they wouldn’t find their way.” Seungkwan was still pacing around the room in wide circles nervously. “Why are they not here when we need them.”

Desperation would be an overstatement for the current situation but this really was an emergency. The scouts were long gone and on Hansols advice they had deployed more scouts in the south of the forest to keep a constant watch.

“Are you really sure that it was that pack?” Chan asked Hansol.

“There is only one pack that I know off that is currently residing in the Southern Grey Mountains and that is them.” He was cut off by Seokmin entering the room.

“I am going to Strenyard, I will take two horses with me, a few pigeons and will travel day and night. I should be able to reach it in two days’ time if I take the old mountain road shortcut.”

There was no other solution to the problem at hand so Seungkwan gave his approval along with Chan. Hansol seemed uneasy, wanting to go to Strenyard himself to inform his own people, but one look at Seungkwans distressed stature made him rethink his priorities. Seokmin would inform Seungcheol as well as the other in Strenyard. His help was needed in Grenhil in order to set up a better scout network. “I will stay and help out here, Seokmin I will write a note for Seungcheol, please take it with you.” He changed his attention to Chan, “Chan please get me some paper and ink. We need to hurry up, Seungkwan make sure Seokmin has enough supplies for his trip. Seokmin take as much rest as you can for the next hour, you will need it.”

His authority and confidence as an alpha was taking over and helped him guide the others, who immediately obeyed his orders as they spread out to complete their various tasks. For the next few days rest would be difficult to get by. He really needed a map of Grenhils defences, but he doubted that Seungkwan would relinquish that information to him. No that was classified as confidential for sure… He tried to reorder his thoughts and remember what he had seen from Grenhils outlay. The castle itself was protected better than any building he had ever seen before, but the town was less shielded. Chan returned to the conference room with paper and ink in his hands. First things first, Hansol thought, as he wrote down a few short sentences. Pleased with the result of his work he folded the paper and placed it on the table, he would hand it to Seokmin later on.

A little under an hour later Chan, Seungkwan and Hansol at the gate, watching as Seokmins frame became smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew larger. Hopefully Seokmin would reach Strenyard as fast as he had said. It had only been five days since the others left… Seungkwan prayed that the others had reached Strenyard safe and sound as well.

\---

Soonyoung felt a sigh escape his lips when he finally saw the stone town hall of Strenyard emerge in around the corner. It had been a long, eventful and most off all tiresome journey and it still hadn’t ended. Woozi had bid them goodbye shortly before they entered town, disappearing into the crowd that wanted to enter the small wooden barricade that surrounded Strenyard before it would close for the night. Seeing the back of the small beta slowly fade from his sight made him feel a bit sad, even though he didn’t know Woozi at all as a person. Traveling with him for the three days had created a small bond between the three of them. Considering his earlier meetings with the small male he concluded that he was not a bad person, which thinking back could be said about all the pack members of Grenhil that he had met. None of them had been unfriendly towards them, except the whole capturing people that entered their territory part, but Soonyoung chose to neglect that part of information for now. The small beta intrigued him ever since he first met him while he was playing his weird instrument on the cliff. Although his second encounter with Woozi was still hurting his pride as an alpha. He secretly hoped that he would meet the smaller again and considering that he still had to rescue Hansol, Dongho and the others in Grenhil, he might just have a chance at encountering Woozi again. 

A cough from Wonwoo gained his attention as the dark haired male knocked politely on the elegant oak wooden door that served as the main entrance to the town hall. The door was swiftly opened by a servant that guided them towards the main hall. The sight that greeted him surprised him to say the least, as all heads inside the room turned towards the door Soonyoung recognized all the familiar faces. Jisoo was the first to stand up and literally start running towards them. Next to him was Seungcheol who kept his composure nicely, looking all dignified and leaderlike in his large chair at the head of the filled dinner table. The dinner table that was filled with delicious looking foods that made Soonyoungs mouth water and distracted him from seeing the other persons in the room. The different plates filled with all kinds of food ranging from meat to bread and even pie! He nearly started drooling all over himself while fawning over the sight. Then he was almost knocked over by a overly excited Jisoo, that was happy to see his friends again.

“Soonyoung, Wonwoo!” Letting go of Soonyoung Jisoo turned his attention towards Wonwoo and hugged him. Soonyoung couldn’t help but smile at the happy expressions of his friends and found himself relaxing for the first time in weeks. At last he was together with his friends in safe territory.

He let his eyes roam around the great hall as he greeted the others. Minghao and Junhui had made it back to Strenyard safely! He bowed politely towards Seungcheol to show his respect for the other alpha. And then a movement near the window caught his attention, as a really tall person stood up, his hand raised in some kind of awkward greeting. Soonyoung couldn’t believe what his eyes were showing him.

“You…” He growled dangerously low towards the tall alpha that was now making his way over to Seungcheol. Before he could close the distance between himself and the tall alpha Seungcheol raised his voice.

“Don’t. They are my guests and should be treated as such.” The warning was issued clearly and Soonyoung tried his best to refrain himself from lunging forward as he stared towards Seungcheol in pure disbelief.

“You don’t understand Seungcheol! He is part of the pack that is responsible for all the disappearances, he is part of the Grenhil pack!” He exclaimed, “They are the ones that have captured Hansol and the others and are holding them captive!”

“I know, so they told me.” Seungcheols voice was calm and steady as he spoke and that somehow only agitated Soonyoung more.

“And after they told you that you just invite them to your dinner table? Knowing full well that your own pack members are being threatened by them?!” His anger cooled down quickly when Seungcheol hit the table with his fist in a deafening blow, the wood squeaking slightly under the impact. His fangs started to show, his immense presence filling the room. A pair of hands was placed on his shoulder and when he turned his head he saw Jisoo shaking his head.

“Soonyoung they had their reasons, please listen to them.” The Jisoos soft voice made him realize the situation he was in. Surrounded by a pack that wasn’t his own and fighting with their leader, without having support to back him up. If he didn’t calm down right now he would be in some serious trouble and not just him, Wonwoo and Jisoo as well. Trying to calm himself by focusing on his breathing he glared at Mingyu, who was still standing next to Seungcheol.

“Well I’m waiting.” He stated not breaking eye contact with Mingyu as the latter remained silent.

\---

For the last few weeks he had been having a premonition that something bad was about to happen. It was part of the reason why he decided to travel towards Strenyard and to start forming an alliance. Every time he looked towards the south east the dark feeling crept upon him, causing an unpleasant sensation in his stomach. The sky was slowly darkening, huge clouds in coloured in different shades of grey and dark blue, foreshadowing the heavy rain that was about to fall. Far in the distance thunder was rumbling dangerously, the south eastern wind was starting to get stronger. Tonight there would be storm, but right now the town was still bristling with merchants, artisans, farmers and the normal housewives that were trying to buy their necessities before the rain would start. The noise was quite different from the silent forest and he had to adjust himself to get used to the racket that took place on the market. He only had to cross the marketplace to get to the inn that they normally stayed at. The ominous feeling from before still wasn’t gone and it even started getting worse right now. In an effort to get rid of the feeling he turned around in his saddle to face towards the south east. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw a person on a horse that looked very familiar racing through the busy streets, almost knocking over a mother and her children in his rush. The distressed face of the man showed recognition as aid his eyes on him, but soon after his normal smiley face was replaced by worry and concern. Something that didn’t suite the person at all.

“Jihoon!” The man called out towards him and Jihoon could only wave his hand to the other to follow him. Whatever it was that made him this concerned had to wait until they were safely behind the closed doors of their own room at the inn.

\---

Mingyu had finally finished talking around ten minutes ago, Soonyoung kept silent all the while. It was Wonwoo who spoke up first, “If keeping yourself secret was that important, why did you let us go?”

“It was honestly not my plan, but the leader wanted it that way. I have learned a long time ago not to question his decisions. He said that it was time to let the world know of our existence on our own terms. However he didn’t explain what he meant by that except for talking about forming alliances and that it was important, he will have his reasons.” Mingyu answered, but the answer didn’t satisfy Soonyoung.

“And where is this great leader of yours?” Soonyoungs voice was full of contempt. “Back in Grenhil he wasn’t around and right now he isn’t around either, how very convenient.”

Seungcheol looked at the display in front of him, debating whether or not he had to step in yet. Soonyoung did make a good point. Jeonghan had told him that their leader was following Soonyoung, but he hadn’t arrived yet, neither had Jeonghan. Mingyu had told them that Jeonghan would join their dinner later, but two hours had passed since the start of dinner and the omega still wasn’t here. Outside it had started pouring, their room occasionally lit by strikes lightning accompanied by loud thunder. Maybe the omega had decided to wait out the storm…

Suddenly he heard noise outside of the room, voices talking to each other.

“Sir, you can’t just walk in there!” He recognized the voice of one of his guards.

“Oh? Watch me.” The door opened slightly afterwards and all the heads in the room turned towards the entrance.

“I really advise you not to fight him.” That was Jeonghan, followed by a loud thud of something or better someone hitting the ground hard. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Seungcheol sprang up and ran towards the oak wooden door, followed closely by Mingyu and Soonyoung. Upon opening the door further he saw Jeonghan standing in the candle light with his back turned towards him right outside the door, staring down at the guard on the floor. Stretching his limps carefully another figure stood in the shadowy hallway, his face covered in darkness. However it was his height that gave away his identity, since he was hiding his scent just like Jeonghan so Seungcheol hadn’t been able to sense his arrival earlier.

“Jihoon!” Mingyu was the first to call out the name of the newly arrived person.

“Yo!” Jihoon greeted the tall alpha, while nodding his head towards Seungcheol as a greeting.

“Woozi?” Soonyoung asked next to Seungcheol, making Mingyus head turn towards him in surprise.

Jeonghan looked at Jihoon judgingly, “Seriously, that is the best name you could come up with?”

Jihoon just shrugged, “Still better than Chan calling himself Dino that one time.”

“Touché.”

Turning to Soonyoung Jihoon folded his hands together, “I am sorry for telling you a false name. I don’t normally trust strangers, let alone travel with them for a prolonged period of time.”

Meanwhile Seungcheol was still staring at his guard on the floor who seemed to be completely knocked out. He tried snapping his fingers in front of the guards face to wake him up but to no avail. The only other persons in the room where Jihoon and Jeonghan and judging from his words, Jeonghan was not the person that fought the guard. With new found curiosity he glanced at Jihoon in front of him. The small omega seemed so defenceless and cute. Honestly the complete opposite of dangerous, his innocent stature looking unfit for battle of any kind if you asked Seungcheol. No Jihoon seemed just like Jeonghan to Seungcheol, an omega that you should protect although they were both intelligent and you should definitely trust them as merchants, but for their protection you definitely needed guards. If only Seungcheol knew how wrong he was in his perception of the two Grenhil omegas. He still didn’t understand what Jeonghan had meant with learning to fight to protect themselves in the past.

Soonyoung was staring at the person that was apparently called Jihoon, who was currently kneeling down next to Seungcheol slowly moving his hand in front of the guards face before shrugging and standing up again. Other than Seungcheol, Soonyoung had already witnessed the combat skills of Woozi, or Jihoon if you will, first hand and was not surprised at all that he had won against the poor guard. He wasn’t even sure if he could beat him.

Until this point none of those present in the town hall had made the connection between Jihoon and the leader of the Grenhil pack. But that was about to change when Jihoon started speaking.

“I am sorry for being late and I don’t have time for chitchatting and believe me, neither do you.” He told Seungcheol and Soonyoung before turning around to face Mingyu, “Mingyu, Seokmin just arrived in town, I need you to go back to Grenhil right now. Check our security and surveillances in the forest, strengthen our defences and start reinforcing the castle walls. Jeonghan, Seokmin and I will follow as soon as we can. We will send a few birds in advance so the others are informed of my plans and send further instructions as well.” Without any questioning Mingyu saluted and ran away in a hurry.

Not even paying attention to the others Jihoon walked into the great hall, followed closely by Jeonghan. The others trailing behind slowly, looking at the Grenhil men expectantly. Noting the serious expressions in the room Jihoon couched one more time before sitting himself at the head of the table, not minding Seungcheol at all. “Sit down please, we have a lot to discuss.” He gestured to the others as if they were visiting him in his home instead of the other way around. Once everyone had settled down he continued, “Let me start with a formal introduction. My name is Lee Jihoon, I am the leader of the Grenhil pack. You have already met my right-hand man Jeonghan and Mingyu who I just send away.”

As soon as the words left his mouth everyone was looking at him. Seeing Seungcheols mouth drop open Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Jeonghan told you the whole history of our pack and you don’t understand that an omega can be the pack leader? Honestly it only makes sense if you ask me.”

Now it was Soonyoungs turn to be surprised, “Omega?” He asked causing Jeonghan to start roaring with laughter and Jihoon to look at him with a mixture of surprise, horror and amazement at the fact that Soonyoung hadn’t realized himself that Jihoon was an omega. Although he had blocked his scent most of the time, there had been times where he didn’t and he was quite sure that Wonwoo had already caught up on it since the latter seemed unfaced by the information.

“Now is not the time for this. I did not introduce strangers to the existance of my pack without a reason.” Jihoon continued, “Last time we were in town you told me about the various warrior packs that were roaming around in our area.” His eyes locked onto Seungcheol who confirmed that they indeed spoke about it. “Seokmin just arrived in town. According to our scouts one of the packs is currently residing at the south eastern border of the Grenhil forest. They attacked another pack that has taken shelter in the south east.”


	14. Chapter thirteen

Chapter thirteen: Lesson one; don’t anger alphas

When Seungkwan walked into the little backroom that served as a meeting room he could immediately sense the tension. Chan had just arrived back in town after visiting a small outpost a south of Grenhil in hopes of getting more intel. Hansol sat in the furthest corner of the room, his face solemn, in anticipation of the news that Chan would’ve acquired. Seungkwan sat himself down on the chair across from Hansol, there had still been no news from Seokmin, Jihoon or anyone else but considering that it was three days ago that the older had left Grenhil that wasn’t something to be concerned about. Although he wished that tomorrow there would be news from Jihoon regarding a plan of action… As he redirected his sight to the room instead of the table he saw both Chan and Hansol staring at him, most likely waiting for him to speak up, as he was still the oldest of the three they expected him to lead this little meeting.

“So…” he started, “Chan please speak up, any news?” Not exactly the best opening ever but even Seungkwan couldn’t be picky about his word choice right now. Time was running out and it was better to handle everything as quickly as possible. There was no need for unnecessary formalities.

“Nothing that we didn’t know off already. Our men are still looking for survivors at the borders of the forest, but until now without success. We have also yet to locate the attackers. What we do know is that they attacked in the middle of the night. The encampment was set afire before the pack could figure out what was happening. No one was spared and as far as we know they have not taken prisoners.” Chans monotone voice was not helping in easing the tension in the room. Hansol was shifting from left to right in his seat, unable to sit still.

“Do they still have hopes of finding survivors? The reports until now have all spoken of a massacre…” Unlike his normal self their was nothing cheerful about Seungkwan right now. His demeanour speaking the words that he couldn’t say out loud. “How do we tell them?” His voice broke down on the last few words. Chan walked around the table towards his friend and slowly laid an arm around his shoulders.

“Jihoon will know what to do, let’s just wait for now. I’ve told the outpost to tighten our defences and patrol more often. The other outposts are also notified.” Seungkwan nodded his head slowly as Chan continued, “We are going to prepare Grenhil for the worst outcome…”

“And that is?” Hansol finally spoke up, asking the question that everyone knew the answer to but that still had to be asked.

“War.” Seungkwan answered very calmly.

\----

The black wolf disappeared before his eyes, merging into the shadowy forest, only to emerge after a few seconds looking back towards him. Gold coloured eyes always watching their every move, waiting to see if the rest was still following behind. He held up his hand towards the wolf in front of him, signalling him that he planned to halt. Their companions were getting tired and they needed their strength for when they arrived at their destination. For now the others were in need of a break, whether the black wolf liked it or not. The large black wolf slowly trotted back towards their position his tail high in the air, signalling a certain amount of dominance that he didn’t think was necessary. But for once he let it go. The wolf was definitely agitated and he felt no need to further increase it. 

“They can’t go on anymore, please have mercy on your own pack members. They need a break.” He waved his hand towards the people behind him, that were silently watching the two converse. The black wolf let out an annoyed growl in response before turning around and dropping himself to the floor dramatically. Definitely not pleased with the short break that the others so desperately needed.

Rolling his eyes at the black wolf he let his own view wander off to their surroundings. Only a few more days and they would reach their destination and either receive confirmation or not. He was still hoping for the latter but all the news they had received thus far was pointing towards the direction of confirmation. It was not strange that the black wolf wanted to carry on faster. It was his nature telling him to move right now. His mind wandered of again thinking of ways to sooth the others worries and concerns. But there seemed to be no quick solutions or short cuts this time around. His brain was still trying to sort out the thoughts from a few days ago, creating order in the chaos of the events that happened. Right now he was weighing his options in calming down the black wolf that was already back on his paws and pacing around their little encampment in small circles, making all of the others nervous in the process.

With a deep sigh he pushed himself up onto his elbows from his comfortable position in the grass, his head following every movement of the large black wolf. Their eyes locked for a moment, dark eyes staring into golden coloured eyes. Traveling like this for a few more days seemed like a nightmare… and was bound to cause irritations as the black wolf was keeping everyone on edge right now. Something had to be done and sadly he had the feeling that he was the one who was supposed to change things right now as he saw the eyes of their other companions drifting over to himself. Shit… he was definitely going to regret this. As he stood up he felt a little sting on his right arm and shoulder that he slightly traced with his fingers, the wound was still fresh and served as a small reminder to not anger alphas…

\---

“What is the name of the pack that was attacked?” Soonyoung had asked, breaking the ongoing silence after several minutes had past. The whole room seemed to hold their breath as they all looked at Jihoon expectantly. They couldn’t suppress the ominous feeling that was present in all of their minds. Somehow the fact that Jihoon took his time to answer made the situation worse. Jisoo and Wonwoo exchanged a quick glance with each other before sending a quiet warning to Soonyoung. They all knew a pack that was residing in the south east of Grenhil forest. A pack which head alpha was currently not around to lead them. Some of his advisers had gone with him to some town and a few of their best warriors had gone missing. For all they knew that pack would make an easy target if the right (or in this case wrong) pack acquired information about the packs current state. Everyone in the room seemed to have figured it out on their own without Jihoon having to answer. Jeonghan who already knew the answer hung his head down refusing to look Jisoo, Wonwoo or Soonyoung in the eyes, further confirming their suspicions.

Raising his head up and taking a deep breath and directing his eyes towards the menacing head alpha that was slowly walking towards him Jihoon answered. “The Vanghguard pack.”

Three words, confirmation. Jisoo and Wonwoo tried to compose themselves, not willing to show weakness to these people that they still considered to be strangers, but their pack had been attacked while they weren’t around to help defend their packmates and that hurt them more than they would like to admit. The only one that couldn’t supress his feelings was Soonyoung, he had taken a hit for sure. As the head alpha his main job was to make sure everyone was protected from danger, and he had failed miserably. His one task, and he wasn’t there to fulfil his promise to his pack. He clenched his fists, his nails long and sharp sinking into his skin, but he didn’t feel the pain. The only thing he felt was anger, he was furious, but Jihoon wasn’t done speaking yet. Soonyoung still hadn’t broken his line of sight and was still directing his glare onto the petite omega in front of him.

“As far as the initial reports go, the attack happened in the middle of the night, it was a massacre. My scouts have yet to find survi…” Jihoon’s sentence was cut short as he was knocked to the ground by huge black flash. Soonyoung had shifted towards his wolf form in second and launched at the smaller man, swiping him of his feet before he could react. Now buried underneath the large black wolf that was staring him down with his teeth barren, growling at him. Soonyoungs eyes were a bright golden colour, intensified by the black fur that surrounded them. In normal situations it might have been a beautiful sight but right now all of Jihoons survival instincts were blasting on full force, allowing him no time to think about irrelevant thoughts that could hinder his escape from the huge claws that were currently clinging onto his right shoulder.

The others were just as shocked as Jihoon by the scene in front of them. Before the situation could become worse for Jihoon Seungcheol decided to step in, shifting into his own wolf form. With his hind legs he lunged forward towards the black wolf that was still trapping the small omega in front of him. In one fluent motion he knocked the alpha off, while growling dangerously at the wolf. This was his territory and he would not tolerate others to display their power in such a fashion.

Knowing full well that the situation would escalate if nothing was done about it Jihoon moved quickly, wincing a little as he reached behind his back with his injured right arm. His left arm fished a small needle out of a little container that sat on his belt as his right hand held a blowpipe. Seeing that Soonyoung probably wouldn’t calm down anytime soon in his enraged state Jihoon decided that it would be best to send him to sleep for a little while. Afterwards Jisoo and Wonwoo could talk some sense into the guy, hopefully that would result in a less violent reaction from the head alpha of the Vanghguard pack. Placing his weapon onto his lips and aiming for his target he breathed in deep, which actually managed to caught the attention of the enraged alpha, whose head instantly whipped into his direction. Talk about heightened senses… Not that it would help him at this stage, releasing the air the little dart flew through the air, settling into the right shoulder of black wolf in front of him. Before Soonyoung could jump at him again Seungcheol moved in to shield him with his body.

“Around twenty seconds Seungcheol, that should be enough time for the narcotic to work.” He calmly explained to silver grey wolf that was now blocking his field of vision, making him unable to spot the other alpha. His tail wagged in response, signalling that he understood what Jihoon meant. They only had to distract Soonyoung for twenty seconds, making sure he wouldn’t attack anyone else or do something stupid that he would regret later.

“SOONYOUNG!” Jisoo had walked over placed himself in front of Seungcheol. Even as a close friend and pack member this could still be dangerous, but the voice seemed to instantly calm the alpha down. “Don’t. Do. It.”

The golden eyes were now resting on Jisoo as the seconds slowly passed. In his head Jihoon had been counting slowly but by now at least thirty seconds were gone and the alpha was still standing on his four legs. Impressive, was all Jihoon could think off, normally an alpha would go down in twenty seconds, betas lasted around fifteen and most omegas would go down in around ten seconds. But Soonyoung was still holding on, although his legs were starting to shake underneath his body now, the weight of his body becoming too much. Another few seconds went by before the alpha finally crashed down onto the floor.

Wonwoo and Jisoo instantly moved towards him, followed by Jihoon who pulled the tiny needle out of the wolf. “He will be fine.” He tried to console the two.

“I know, you guys also shot down Hansol before we were moved to Grenhil. Is it the same dart?” Wonwoo asked without looking in his direction, keeping his eyes on the giant wolf that was now peacefully sleeping.

“Chan uses a stronger narcotic.” Jeonghan chimed in from his chair. “He held out quite long don’t you think Jihoonie?” Jihoon cringed a little at the name but nodded his head anyway.

“Over fourthy seconds, a new record for sure. Since it took this long for him to fall asleep, he will probably wake up in about two hours or so if I don’t give him the antidote to this narcotic.” Jisoo was about to say something before he continued, “But I will only give it to him if you are sure that I won’t get attacked again.” Despite his cute appearances his eyes were unforgiving as he glared at Jisoo and Wonwoo, creating an intimidating presence that no one really expected from his small posture. And suddenly Wonwoo remembered Jihoon telling him that he actually beat Soonyoung, causing him to travel to Grenhil with him. He hadn’t fully believed it at the time but looking at the short man in front of him right now, he suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine. This small omega was for sure a force to be reckoned with.

“I will try.” Jisoo answered, to which Jihoon reached for another small pocked on his belt, out of which he fished another small needle that he handed over to Jisoo.

“Please wait until the others have moved slightly out of the way.” Jihoon took Wonwoo by the hand and pulled him backward towards the wall as Jeonghan did the same on the other side of the room. Seungcheol, positioned himself in between everyone, ready to jump into action if needed.

\--- 

It took Jisoo five minutes of talking to the alpha before Soonyoung finally shifted back towards his human form and another ten minutes before his eyes turned a dark brown shade instead of the beautiful but dangerous golden hue.

With a cough Jihoon grabbed their attention again. “I want to form an alliance with both of your packs. None of us are safe if we stay alone. Soonyoung, “ he let his eyes rest on the alpha, “if we find any survivors they are welcome to stay in our territory. The same goes for all of you. We will provide medical care and everything they need in order to fit in. But I ask of you to help defend our territory against the pack that attacked your own.” He directed the last words mostly to Seungcheol but the head alpha of the Vanghguard pack was the person that answered.

Soonyoung took a deep breath before trying to formulate a sentence that made sense to the others. “If there are survivors, we need any help that we can. In return I will help wherever I can, but I have one question,” A golden glow started to cover his irises again, “Do you know who the attackers were?”

Jihoon and Jeonghan shared a quick glance at each other. They didn’t know for sure which pack had attacked the Vanghguard pack, but they had a few clues about it. However sharing those clues with the alpha did not seem like a good idea right now. Soonyoung would try to avenge his people and if they pointed at the wrong pack it would be disastrous. Seungcheol understood what their little exchange meant and gave them a small nod while Soonyoung was still waiting for an answer.

“No. We don’t know for sure.” That was the only statement that Jihoon and Jeonghan wanted to make about the case right now. Without having more information it was simply to dangerous to make mistakes.

“So what is the plan now?” Junhui and Minghao had been quiet this whole time, sitting in the far most corner of the room, but figured that it was time to speak up. “Sitting around waiting here in Strenyard feels wrong.”

“But we can’t just leave our people alone.” Argued Seungcheol. “Hansol is already in Grenhil. I think he should stay there for the time being and help you wherever he can. I want to travel with you to Grenhil as well.” Before Junhui or Minghao could interject he turned towards them. “I trust you two with Strenyard. The defences of our hometown are in your hands. Make sure that all the walls get strengthened, double the guards and train the troops or whatever you think is necessary in case of an attack.”

“And why do you have to go to Grenhil instead of staying with your pack?”

“Because Grenhil is also part of the alliance and Grenhil can offer certain kind of technology and goods that your own pack doesn’t have, yet.” It was the first time that Jeonghan spoke up in a long while and Jihoon instantly snapped his head in his direction, his eyes forced in a tight split as he glared at him. Obviously the leader of the Grenhil pack was not amused about the offer that his second in command had just made. “Oh come on Jihoonie. You can’t deny that you need to help them too. The only way is to teach them what we know. Starting with a way to build stone walls that last and actually offer decent defence against hostile packs. We have the stone that is needed as well as workers that can offer help.”

The small man started pacing around the room, debating his answer. “He didn’t discard my offer in five seconds, in Jihoons special language that means that this is a yes.” Jeonghan walked behind the smaller and nudged him forward, making him extent his hand. A hand that Seungcheol shook instantly even though the small omega was still in obvious doubt about his own agreement to the alliance.

It was only then that Jeonghan suddenly noticed the slight wet feeling on Jihoon right shoulder and as he took a closer look he saw the slash that stretched all the way from his shoulder down to his elbow. Besides the obvious heavy bleeding Jihoon had ignored the wound and only seemed to acknowledge it when Jeonghan started pulling at the hem of his shirt in order to treat it. Mind you that this whole scene still took place in the meeting room with everyone present. With one push Jihoon got away from Jeonghan but that only brought the attention of the others back to him and onto his obvious bloodred shirt.

“It’s not as bad as it seems…” he started but he stopped talking when Wonwoo suddenly ran closer to inspect his battle wound. If you could call getting knocked over by a mad alpha a battle wound. Well, he should’ve know better. Alphas don’t take it well when their family and friends get hurt and for a head alpha those feelings seem to multiply or something. If he had paid more attention to Soonyoung he should’ve seen his own impending doom, but he didn’t and so he got hurt. In Jihoons mind that meant that it was his own stupid mistake. What he didn’t notice was the guilt-ridden face that Soonyoung was currently making on the opposite side of the room. He didn’t get time to think about it though because Wonwoo literally dragged him out of the room into another room and started cleaning his wound, all the while complaining about Soonyoung and Jihoon who forgot mentioning to everyone that he was hurt. The nagging and cleaning went on for a few minutes more, with Jeonghan entering the room in the meantime.

“Do you want to send a message to home? It should arrive in town before Mingyu makes it over. It might be useful to tell them about our alliance and the fact that we are taking some visitors with us in the territory.” Jihoon nodded in agreement and focussed back on Wonwoo who had decided that stitching would be necessary. A prospect that Jihoon did. Not. Like. At. All.

And Jeonghan knew. Jihoon was quite tough, not easily scared and quite brave, especially for an omega. There was however one tiny thing that Jihoon didn’t like. Needles. The poor person that had to deal with Jihoon if he ever needed stitches… and now it seems that yet another victim would be added to the list. Before anything could happen Jeonghan walked outside the door were he knew a guilty Soonyoung was still standing.

“If you want to make up for hurting him I have an idea. Might even safe your friend with it.” Not given much of a choice Jeonghan dragged Soonyoung into the room were they found Wonwoo on the ground with an angry looking Jihoon next to him.

“JIHOON!” Jeonghan scolded.

“I don’t like needles. I am not getting stitches. It will heal without them.”

“No it won’t and you are definitely getting them. Soonyoung you grab his left side!” Without another warning Jeonghan lunged himself at the small omega.

\---- 

The bird arrived at Grenhil one day later, informing Seungkwan, Chan and Hansol that they would be coming to Grenhil in a few days and that Mingyu would arrive any moment to help with the defences. Seungkwan got the instruction to watch over the stocks of Grenhil and to make sure that there would be enough food in case war would break out for real. Chan had to go to the other settlements of Grenhil and check their defences. Hansol could join Seungkwan and list possible supplies that Strenyard might need. Mingyu would go to the place of the attack and help in the search for survivors until further notice. And so now everyone got to their respective tasks while waiting for the others to arrive.

\---

Another sigh and he made his way over to the giant black wolf, padding him on his back slightly.

“Let’s run ahead. You won’t sit still anyways and it is agitating the others.”

He gave another sign towards the long haired omega behind him and started walking into the forest. Soon disappearing from the sight of the others but behind him he could hear the faint trotting of wolf paws on forest floors.

Once he deemed the distance between himself and the others far enough he slowly crouched down. It had been a long time since he had used his own wolf form and he was already excited at the thought of the wind in his fur as he ran along the trees. However normally he would be alone, not joined by an alpha of all things. For there was a very good reason that he normally hid his scent, something he wouldn’t be able to do in his wolf form. Oh how he was going to regret this…

One more deep sigh and he jumped forward, changing shape mid air and instantly the flowery scent spread across his surroundings. Reaching the nose of the large black wolf with the beautiful golden eyes…

\----


	15. Chapter fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: The echoes of the silent forest

It had been four days since Seokmin left town and Seungkwan had become rather nervous. The letter that arrived yesterday only made it worse. The message that the bird brought didn’t contain any reassurance, if anything it heightened their fears.

The idea of the enemy that they were facing scared them. The absence of three of their counsel man as well as their leader didn’t sit well with Seungkwan.

Hansol on the other hand seemed delighted knowing that Seungcheol would come to Grenhil. His own worries about Strenyard were eased a bit. Strenyard could learn from Grenhil and with help of their builders and woodworkers they too could build stronger walls for their home town. The alliance only seemed positive in his mind and he didn’t stop to think about the reason why an alliance was needed in the first place.

That was exactly what worried Chan and Seungkwan. Jihoon had thought that their own strength wouldn’t be enough to face the coming danger. In the whole history of Grenhil never before had a leader asked outsiders for their help. Never had they relied on others, but now they would. No, now they needed to rely on others. Put their trust in men that they didn’t know, men that could have different standards and beliefs that contradicted their own. And it scared them. Jihoon thought it necessary to accept the risk of sharing their secrets, their knowledge, their very existence. They were guiding strange wolves into the heart of Grenhil forest.

A deep sigh escaped Seungkwan. His thoughts wandered off again, thinking about Mingyu who should arrive in Grenhil at any moment now. In his letter Jihoon had ordered Mingyu to travel towards the outskirts of their territory in order to search for survivors of the attack on the Vanghguard pack. Mingyu had to gather intel about their opponents, but he wasn’t allowed to leave their own territory until Jihoon returned.

An arm snaked around his shoulder snapping him out of his anxieties.

“Don’t worry yourself to much now Seungkwan. Mingyu will arrive safely today and we will send him off immediately.” Chan stood behind him reassuringly. “As soon as Mingyu arrives I will leave for Vesthil.”

Seungkwan nodded absent minded. Vesthil was a smaller village in their territory. It was located on the west side of the forest and the villagers specialised in different kinds of woodwork. Chan would direct and oversee the strengthening of Grenhils walls as well as overlook the normal maintenance of the other villages. Seungkwan himself would wait for Jihoon in Grenhil. He was checking on all their granaries while packing his own travelling needs. On the far north side of their territory was another small village, Rostock, that specialised in livestock, most of their farmlands were also located in the valleys that surrounded the village. Once Jihoon and Jeonghan would arrive Seungkwan would leave for Rostock. Moreover he had to prepare the guestrooms of Grenhil Castle for the visitors that would be coming with Jihoon.

\---

The only one that was unsure what to do next was Hansol. Right now he was waiting for Seungcheols arrival, but he didn’t know what he was expected to do in the meantime. Throughout his short stay in Grenhil he had been busy trying to calm down Seungkwan and helped with his everyday activities in Grenhil but he knew that the omega would leave the castle once Jihoon returned.

He assumed that he would go back to Strenyard with Seungcheol later on, but somewhere in his heart he hoped that he could stay with his newfound friends. Over the course of last two weeks he had grow quite fond of Chan and Seungkwan. Both were kind and hardworking, he had found out that he and Seungkwan were of the same age. Chan was even younger but the two of them meant so much to their pack. Chan apparently was the best architect around and was responsible for designing much of Grenhils exterior appearance. His ancestors had been the ones to construct the castle but some of the more recent upgrades were his idea. Such as the wooden ramparts high on the walls that provided shelter for the defenders during an attack. If it ever came to an attack on the castle itself. Hansol had been privileged enough to be shown around town by Chan. Various traps and defensive structures had been build surrounding the town. A lot of platforms were hidden among the treetops, providing a place for archers and scouts alike.

Seungkwan had his own skillset. The man was amazing with animals and had been training them since he was young. His natural ability to understand them helped him greatly in his training programs. Besides animals Seungkwan was responsible for the whole foodchain that supported Grenhil. Normally he would visit Rostock every other week to check on the herbs and greeneries. The other week he would travel to the meadows high above Grenhil that contained a lot of livestock and were their stables were located. He had taken Hansol with him once and shown him the different commands that he thought to his horses. Proudly presenting him every horse with their own specialties.

He had two favourites, one was Jihoons horse Azur and the other was his own horse, a beautiful brown mare that was covered in white spots. Both were impeccably trained with all kinds of tricks that Seungkwan didn’t want to disclose further.

By talking to Seungkwan and Chan Hansol had found out a lot about the relationship between the leader and his subordinates. Jihoon completely trusted his friends to do what they thought was right in their own branches. Hansol saw Jihoon as some sort of conductor that guided the others in the right direction.

Strenyard wasn’t that much different but Seungcheol had a lot more responsibilities to take care of compared to what he knew of Jihoon. Seungcheol did most of the work himself, although he did ask for advice now and the responsibilities weren’t as nicely divided. The system seemed to take a lot of stress from the pack leader and Hansol kept wondering if they could implement it in Strenyard in order to help Seungcheol before he would succumb to the madness that came with the responsibilities.

Mingyu arrived a few hours later, only to leave again instantly. After which Chan and Mingyu set off to their respectable destinations off the south eastern border of their territory to investigate the attack further while Chan set off towards Vesthil.

\---

A snap in the brushes below him snatched his attention. One hand went up as carefully as possible. His eyes scanned the surroundings of the bush. First rule of scouting, never watch the place that moved to closely, keep your attention to the areas surrounding it. It might be a diversion.

Mingyu slowly brought his two of his fingers to his lips and released a high pitched whistle. In the trees around him the sound resounded at least ten times. Good everyone was still in position.

Movement! Instantly he lowered himself even more on the branch that he had been sitting on. His brown and green hood providing cover from curious eyes while hiding his own face in the shadows. The grey paint on his face itched but he knew that it helped him to conceal himself when he needed it. This enemy was too dangerous to rush things. A small mistake might cost him his own life or worse, the lives of his companions.

Another twig broke in two more to his right. The sound echoed through the unusually quiet forest. Even the wild animals and mother nature itself seemed to hold their breaths in anticipation. There was no wind, no rustling leaves to hide sounds with. Th slight breeze from before had died down when the sun had set. The night had become dark, only lighted by the moon and stars that were visible through the leaves above him.

Enemy or friend?

Suddenly a familiar howl sounded to the west. The sound penetrating through the silent night, cutting the air and sending chills to the spines of the persons below him. He could see them now, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness surrounding them. Whoever they were, this was Grenhil territory.

Enemy or friend? He would find out soon enough. For now he would wait for the owner of that howl, he thought as he released another whistle that echoed from all sides soon after.

\---

It took Soonyoung a little while to recover from the initial shock that the flowery scent gave him. He knew this scent, once before he had followed it out of town and towards the forest. The scent that had let him out of Strenyard, following a carriage that had made its way towards Grenhil forest. He remembered getting ever so closer to the scent before suddenly everything went black.

Now he knew what happened. Someone of the Grenhil pack had shadowed the carriage and had seen Soonyoung following it. As always pursuers were taken out before they could enter the forest. In this case the unfortunate person had been Soonyoung himself, but only now he knew who he had followed. Golden eyes traced over the small figure of the wolf in front of him that was now finally emitting a scent. Gone were his last doubts about Jihoons’ sub gender, he was in fact an omega that was for sure now. One with a very alluring scent.

His eyes travelled further upwards and soon ice blue eyes focused on Soonyoungs’ figure as the greyish brown wolf in front of him turned around to face him. An unspoken warning lay hidden in those cold blue depths as the smaller wolfs ears stood up on his head while he bared his teeth. Every wolf would know that warning, don’t go near me. I will attack you. Still the action confused Soonyoung, because the scent that the other emitted definitely belonged to an omega, the kind of wolf that tended to be submissive. Not aggressive nor dominant like an alpha would. However the wolf in front of him clearly displayed the last two behaviours. His tail held high behind him as he stood up straight looking at Soonyoung.

He supressed his own initial reaction, that would be to get the omega to submit, instead his own ears moved back and forth in anticipation of what the other wolf would do. The reaction seemed to surprise the other who slowly backed up. His tail wagged once before he turned around again. Suddenly he whipped his head up high and howled. Before Soonyoung could react the howl was answered somewhere in the distance and again… He truly was in another packs territory. Following the other packs leader, following Jihoon. Now he also realized what Jihoon was doing, if he had attacked the smaller omega Soonyoung realized that he would’ve been in trouble. The answering calls kept coming from all sides, multiple wolves were howling now, but he also heard something else. Different whistled melodies that he would normally have dismissed as birds. After traveling with Jihoon before he knew better. It was the way the Grenhil pack communicated in the forest when following strangers through their territory. It served as a way of telling their pack what was happening, with different melodies delivering messages to their friends.

It took a few minutes before the normal quiet returned to the woods. The echoing howls died down slowly. With the returned silence Jihoons blue eyes turned towards his own golden ones. A nudge of his head beckoned Soonyoung to follow him further into the forest.

\--- 

He had been amazed at Soonyoungs behaviour. Opposite to his expectations he wasn’t attacked by the alpha for showing dominance. That was quite a feat for a pack leader, normally they wouldn’t tolerate others that challenged their own power. Jihoon had turned around and started walking down a path that was invisible for an outsider but that every packmember knew how to follow. Soon he increased his speed as he heard the light padding of Soonyoung paws on the soft forest floor behind him.

His increased senses went in overdrive after not spending time in his wolf form for almost three months. Every scent invading his nostrils seemed more intense and the little damp patches of grass underneath his paws were a pleasant sensation. His brain still had to adjust to seeing the world in different shades of yellows and blues, his eyes could no longer perceive the abundance of colours that a human eye provided. Instead his field of vision had become wider and he took in the passing sceneries as he ran along the treeline.

His stature had become one of pure glee and happiness, his tail happily wagging behind him as he kept increasing his pace. There were only a few things in life that he enjoyed more than running through the forest. Lately he didn’t have time to stretch his legs on a lapse through out his vast territory but now that he had the chance he would enjoy it to it’s fullest. The sun was starting to set, slowly covering the forest in an orange hue as darkness started to overtake the vibrant colours that the daylight had offered. While human eyes had difficulty seeing in the dark, his wolf form offered a perfectly fine night view. He blinked once, needing more time to adjust to the fast changing lighting in the forest.

The weather had started to change. The beautiful day filled with a warm summer sun, slight breeze and small white clouds was long gone. The wind had died down, the forest had become silent, maybe too silent.

His happiness was further interrupted when familiar sounds reached his ears. The whistle that indicated strangers were located in their territory. The sound came from the east. He stopped in his tracks to perk his ears up and to concentrate on the sounds that echoed through the air right now. Behind him Soonyoung followed his example.

He scraped the earth with his front paw and saw that Soonyoung was watching him. He looked up at him with questioning eyes to which the other wolf seemingly nodded his head.

Grenhil could wait.

He turned his head around and let out an howl.

\---


	16. Chapter fifteen

Chapter fifteen: The forest night is full of revelations

Mingyu kept an eye on the persons on the ground, counting the number of shadows he saw moving around in the dark. Another whistle left his lips, into the air, followed by multiple short ones. It was a simple system. The first whistle meant that he would tell others how many intruders he had seen, after that he used different whistles. A really short one meant one, a quick double without pause meant ten. The other Grenhil members only needed to count with him. You always had to start with your tens and after that the ones. Right now he counted twelve persons but it was possible that more were out of his sight.

The sound that he made didn’t stay unnoticed by the people below him. The nightly forest sounds had been eerily quiet tonight and this kind of whistle did instantly stick out against the owl that he heard in the distance. His leg started to twitch since he had been holding his position in the tree for too long. ‘Just a bit longer…’ He told himself in a silent mantra which he hoped would distract himself from his leg slowly dying beneath his own weight.

His coat and hood still provided shelter for him but the sounds had let to the persons underneath him to start searching the trees for the source of the sound. It wouldn’t be long before they would notice the huge lump that sat high above them. But the silence provided no cover for Mingyu to move around. He had to hope that the others would react if the situation became too dangerous.

As if on cue his comrades started whistling from the west. The wait was over.

Another howl screeched through the night but it wasn’t the same one from before. It was someone Mingyu didn’t recognize.

\---

“They really couldn’t wait any longer?”

Jeonghan looked up to see Seungcheol looming over him. A bit startled he scrambled to sit up straight almost knocking the other person in the head with his own because of the quick movement. It took him a bit of time before the question dawned on him.

“Jihoon has always been a bit impulsive. Soonyoung seems like him in that regard. Besides I don’t think it would’ve done us any good to keep that agitated alpha around for longer than necessary. Jihoon knows the forest better than anyone…” With that Jeonghan intended to put a halt the conversation but Seungcheol had other plans.

“What if he gets attacked again? He can’t handle that, but now we won’t be around to help.”

Jeonghan just scoffed at him. “You really don’t listen well to others…”

“Pardon me?”

“Remember what we told you about our strongest pack member being the leader of the Grenhil pack. We weren’t kidding.”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow in disbelieve. “He pounced on him and he would do it again.”

“Pffff…” Jeonghan hit him in the shoulder. “I would like to see him try. Jihoon will win. If not on pure power he will at least outsmart that bundle of muscles.”

For his graceful appearance the omega sure packed a nasty punch. Seungcheol rubbed the spot that Jeonghan just hit with a unamused face. “That bundle of muscles will kill him. I can’t believe that your pack just leaves omegas helpless like that.”

The next moment Seungcheol was face to face with the earth. He felt his heart beating louder in his chest as his arm was held tightly behind his back by Jeonghan as the latter gritted through his teeth. “You alphas are all the same. Stupid. Idiots. If you had listened you would’ve known that Jihoon has beaten the little alpha boy before.” With another push Seungcheol found himself tasting the dirt now as Jeonghan scoffed behind him and let him go. “Tsk alphas.”

It sounded so honestly annoyed that Seungcheol simply couldn’t find it in himself to be mad at Jeonghan. Rather the rubbed his jaw with his hand and spit out the remainders of sand in his mouth as he stared at the omega that was leaving towards the others. Something had triggered the omega but he didn’t know what…

Even from his position he could hear Jeonghan continuously mumble about alphas and how Mingyu was some kind of happy exception to the rule. He decided to get up and walked after the omega trying to help him out with clearing out their little encampment. Whenever his eyes moved up to look at the beautiful man in front of him he felt a little pang in his chest and he wondered what it was. Meanwhile Jeonghan simply ignored his presence altogether. Seemingly still brooding about something.

\--- 

When he felt the other didn’t pay attention to him Jeonghan let his eyes shift to the side to glance over at Seungcheol. The small spark was still there every time he looked at the other. How the stupid alpha hadn’t noticed annoyed him more than he liked to admit. The thoughts kept spinning through his head as he moved around folding his sleeping bag and loading his bag onto his own horse. He had known for years now… It had happened instantly the first time they visited Strenyard.

“Jihoon do you really think we can do this?” Mingyu was nervously fidgeting around on his horse as he rode next to their carriage. “Maybe we should just leave it be…”

Surprisingly Jihoon smiled patiently at the giant. “We can do it. Better yet, we have to do this. Strenyard has more than enough metal. Besides that they have some interesting herbs that I would like to see for myself. They might be useful in the future. Just because a new alpha took over doesn’t mean our trading partner is gone.”

The news had reached them last week. The old alpha of the Strenyard pack had died of old age surrounded by his family. A young alpha had taken over and the first reports were positive. The people seemed to like the man quite a lot so Jihoon figured that he should be competent enough. Which led to him insisting they had to travel to Strenyard. The sooner they informed the leader about their presence the better.

The simple wooden outer wall of Strenyard came into their view. Seungkwan almost squealed next to Jeonghan who was holding the reins of the horses in his hand. Shaking his head at the younger ones he himself also felt a bit anxious.

Grenhil had been trading with Strenyard for years. Disguising themselves by trading animal furs on the weekly market. Their real goods however were the diamonds that Jihoon and Jeonghan carried with them in small pockets. Today Seokmin and Seungkwan would man their market stand as Jeonghan, Jihoon and Mingyu would arrange a meeting with the newly appointed leader of the Strenyard pack.

The audience was promptly granted by the townhall guard that still recognized them from their last visits. Jeonghan and Jihoon had taken over this job from the previous leader of the Grenhil pack more than a year ago. Before that the old man had taken them on this journey multiple times to learn them the ropes of the trade. But most of all to show them the importance of secrecy. The old man had died and with that a new generation had taken over the reins of the Grenhil pack. Jihoon had been chosen by their people to be the new pack leader and others had been appointed to the counsel positions afterwards. The newest additions had been Seungkwan and Chan who had only joined the counsel last month. This was the first change in power in the Strenyard pack for all of them. The old counsel members had given them their trust to do the trading themselves.

“Jihoonie,” Jeonghan was the only one that could get away with calling Jihoon by the nickname, “Do you have any special plans for this talk?”

“Not really, let’s see what he does first. My guess is that he tries talking to Mingyu only. The first shock of us being the main talkers will be funny.” A smirk graced the face of the small omega in front of him, his eyes almost disappearing in happy crescents.

“Do I have to do anything?” Mingyu asked.

“Look menacing and mean? Just kidding you are unable to do that.” The giant pouted at the remark. “Trust your own instincts Mingyu. It will be alright.”

Sometimes Jeonghan was surprised by the kindness that the short tempered man could show. Normally Mingyu annoyed him the most with his jokes and clumsiness. When Mingyu wasn’t acting like a overgrown five year old Jihoon had a soft spot for his friend.

The doors finally opened and they were let into the main hall of Sternyards townhall. Familiar sightings greeted him. The oak wooden table still stood at it’s place. The chairs all nicely arranged around it. There was only one difference. From the chair in the middle of the hall a pair of curious eyes was staring at them. Big round eyes in a face that seemed quit young for the position that the person was in now. The new alpha of the Strenyard pack.

Jeonghan instantly found himself drawn to the intimidating man in a weird way he was finding all kinds of soft features in the stern looking face. The man was handsome for sure.

The man scraped his throat. “Nice to meet you. My name is Choi Seungcheol.” He didn’t have to say that he was the new head alpha, his whole posture spoke for him. The man just screamed dominance. Unlike Jihoons first assumption the man had spoken to the three of them and not just to Mingyu, the only other alpha in the room. 

Jihoon had a smile on his face next to him as he spoke up. Jeonghan listened quietly to his friend. Jihoon introduced them as merchants traveling from town to town. The old white lie about their hometown was used once again and the alpha took every word from Jihoons lips like honey. He seemed completely entranced by the cute omega in front of him. Jeonghan felt a wave of annoyance running through his veins that he couldn’t explain.

Until he felt himself slowly getting more uncomfortable in a very alarming way. Jihoon had started talking about their goods now. Luckily the alpha still paid no attention to Jeonghan at all as he gave a little tug to Jihoons shirt. “Jihoon I need to go right now.” He whispered to the other that looked at him confused. “I will explain later.”

With those words he almost fled out of the room. Jihoon had already closed the deal by then and had made up an excuse of Jeonghan having to check their goods. Another nod of his head towards the incredibly handsome alpha and Jeonghan was gone.

\---

Once he reached Seungkwan and Seokmin he pulled the other omega to the side. “Seungkwannie I need your heat herbs. NOW.” Seungkwans mother always let him pack a whole medical kit whenever he had to leave Grenhil. Normally Jeonghan would laugh at the overly concerned lady but right now he couldn’t be more thankful.

As Jihoon and Mingyu arrived back at their inn later that evening he had to explain to Jihoon.

“Are you sure?” A look of doubt was send his way by the smaller.

He felt his insecurity increasing instantly but the rational part of his brain took over again. “There is no other explanation. My cycle is never irregular.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Worry crept over Jihoon face.

Jeonghan scoffed. “He didn’t even notice. I am not telling him something that he should’ve noticed himself. The only thing that idiot saw was your own appearance.” A sigh escaped his own lips, “But I don’t know how to face him after this.”

“If he truly didn’t notice and you don’t want to confront him…” Jihoons thoughtful voice reached out to him, “Maybe you shouldn’t go to Strenyard anymore. I have no idea how much this affects you but I don’t want you to hurt.” The smaller one was like a little brother to Jeonghan and the worry that was written all over his features saddened him.

However the thought of having to send Jihoon all alone to that alpha that seemed a bit too interested was unnerving to Jeonghan. “No. I am going with you. I think only the first time should be this difficult. I hope. If not I will stop coming with you. I promise.” He held out his pinky finger to the other which Jihoon gladly took.

\---

Ever since then Jeonghan had accompanied Jihoon to Strenyard and every time he had felt the same heat entrancing him when he looked at the handsome alpha. Seungcheol never noticed.

His face started to get increasingly red while he remembered that fateful day. A hand came in his field of vision as Seungcheol offered to help him with folding the last tent.

It was exceptional to find your fated pair during your short time on earth, a true miracle. Another miracle was his partner not noticing who he was… ‘I will never tell him.’ Jeonghan thought while he voiced out his annoyance in yet another; “Stupid idiotic alpha.”

\---

Jihoon and Soonyoung wasted no time at all, racing in the direction of the sound. Once they got closer unfamiliar scents reached Jihoons nose. His own pack members stayed hidden in the trees but he knew they were surrounding him right now. Suddenly Soonyoung ran in front of him whilst throwing his head in the air with a howl of recognition. The alpha increased his speed as he broke through the tight underwood that was currently blocking his way. Following closely behind Jihoon curiously ran after him.

The trees slowly made way for grassland. In front of him Soonyoung came to a halt in the middle of the open field. Both of them started scanning the surrounding forest for their comrades.

Jihoon was the first one to spot someone. High in a tree to his right he spotted his giant comrade. They had reached the right place. He quickly ran towards the tree shifting mid air when he reached the bushes.

“Mingyu!” With his shift from wolf to human his scent disappeared once again leaving Soonyoung baffled even though he had witnessed the reversed feat before. Soonyoung had yet to spot the alpha but a huge shadow dropping from a tree near Jihoon solved the mystery. As if nothing was happening Jihoon walked towards the alpha, seemingly not a care in the world about them searching for others. Others that Soonyoung already recognized as soon as they entered the field.

Without further ado he himself shifted back too, immediately lifting his hands in the air in a happy wave towards a bush in front of him. “It’s me, Soonyoung! Guys come out please no one will harm you I promise.”

There was no movement in front of him just yet but surrounding him more people started to drop down from the trees. Surrounding the spot in front of him. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed the huge amount of people before but he supposed that the Grenhil pack really did specialise in stealth.

A small hand was placed on his shoulder as Jihoon had moved next to him. “Do you know them?” His voice was soft and warm as he spoke. Soonyoung nodded as he felt himself getting emotional. He did know the people that were hiding from them.

“They are my people.” The whisper was loaded with relieve but also anger at his people having to hide like this. Wrath towards the pack that attacked them, but happiness that not all of his pack members were lost in the massacre. The Vanghguard pack wouldn’t go down without a proper fight at last.

The hand dropped from his shoulder and suddenly the flowery scent was back again as Jihoon started walking towards the bush. Soonyoung kept staring at the omega, the scent calming him down in a strange manner. The short male kept walking forward but started crouching down when he got closer. Soonyoung was pondering whether he should start walking too but next to him Mingyu shook his head at him.

Instead of being on full alert Mingyu relaxed next to him and started talking, “You know I was wondering who was howling just now. I had everyone ready to pounce on more intruders. We were afraid that someone was following Jihoon. I know that the guy can defend himself but I got a bit worried just now. You wouldn’t believe how happy I was when I saw it was you.” The giant gave him a kind grin and a little pat on his back. “But those are your people?”

In front of him multiple silhouettes became visible in the darkness as they stood up from their hiding places.

“Anyone hurt?” Jihoons soft voice cut through the air.

“A few…” A womans voice answered that Soonyoung couldn’t place just yet.

“But most are death.” This person Soonyoung did recognize. Shownu.

“Shownu!” He couldn’t refrain himself any longer and he charged forward towards the bulky man that was standing in front of Jihoon. Without thinking he flung himself at the man giving him a hug. The other people joined in and soon after he was surrounded by his people. His own pack members. For now happiness was the most prominent emotion but he knew that the need for revenge was still lingering in the back of his head.

“So…” His happy moment interrupted by Jihoon. “What is your plan now?” He let go of his friends and turned around to face the small leader of the Grenhil pack that was eyeing him with an unreadable expression.

Although Soonyoung was over the moon that he found Shownu and the others he knew that his pack was too small to be of any significant in the world. There would be no going back to their old lifestyle. He would’ve to give up their warring ways and settle down somewhere safe. His eyes lingered on the underfed and bruised up men and women that surrounded him still. For now a safe place could wait. His blood started boiling again at the mere thought of what happened to the rest of the pack.

“Maybe there are more survivors.” With a heavy heart he counted the people surrounding him, fifteen. Only a fraction of the former glory that had been the Vanghguard pack. With Wonwoo, Jisoo and the ‘prisoners’ of the Grenhil pack there would be twenty-three. No one would be scared of that.

Mingyu shook his head next to Jihoon, “You shouldn’t have your hopes up too high. Surviving in Grenhil forest is quite hard if you have never been there before.” The tall man looked at his feet before he continued, his face sullen. “We have found enough bodies in the forest to account for that. A lot of them heavily wounded before their demise. The Exodus pack has been thorough in their attack.”

“For now all I can do is offer shelter to every member of the Vanghguard pack that we find.” Jihoon spoke with a natural authority. His words leaving no room for objections. Turning to his own men he continued. “Please check all of them for wounds and treat them if necessary before we move. I want you to do a thorough check of our surroundings. For now we will move them to Rostock, it is the closest village and it has enough food supplies.” The Grenhil scouts nodded and disappeared into the forest again, only to return shortly afterwards with bags full of medical herbs. Meanwhile Jihoon and Mingyu had walked away from Soonyoung and were discussing something.

Soonyoungs eyes didn’t leave the small figure that was in a increasingly heated debate with the tall alpha. Suddenly he wondered how he hadn’t noticed before. This scent. He knew this scent. He had followed and searched this scent. This scent had a meaning to him and he was sure that Jihoon knew.

\---

\---


	17. Chapter sixteen

Chapter sixteen: Be responsible please!

“I won’t allow it!”

“I won’t allow it!” Jihoon repeated mockingly, his voice grasping the attention of the remaining people on the clearing. The argument was becoming increasingly more heated with Mingyu being obviously unhappy with something Jihoon said. “Try me Kim Mingyu.” Jihoon threatened the giant alpha.

Soonyoung could see his pack members tensing up at the situation. Omegas weren’t supposed to talk back like this. If they said anything wrong to trigger an alpha it could end very badly for them. Little did his friends know that Mingyu was the cautious one right now. Although Soonyoung still didn’t believe it that the small cute looking bundle of fluff that Jihoon was could beat the tall man with his wide shoulders and very visible muscles.

The scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes right now became increasingly threatening but in a strange way very amusing. Jihoon had started speaking in a more hushed tone which led to Soonyoung being unable to understand what he was saying. Meanwhile he kept poking his index finger in Mingyus ribcage while he was talking to give more strength to his words. That lead to Mingyus face slowly darkening in annoyance.

“For fucks sake Jihoon!” He finally burst out. “Be responsible for once in your life! Even I can see the danger in your plan. THINK IT THROUGH!”

The mere volume of his voice seemed to shock Jihoon a little but he soon recovered only to spit back his own words. “I DID! There is no one better fit for this and you know it.” He folded his arms together which made him look like an angry child.

“What is going on?” Soonyoung decided to step in before the words turned into more.

Mingyu turned around to face him. “This idiot wants to go on his own little scouting adventure in Exodus territory. Apparently he thinks that it is a good idea to leave his pack behind while we are facing an imminent threat.”

“Oh come on Mingyu. We have to get more information about our enemy.”

“And so you think that marching into them yourself is the right way to do so?”

“Better than going back to Grenhil and idly sitting in the counsel room while others fail this same mission.”

Mingyu raised his arms in the air, “So now you are implying that all of us suck and that no one is competent enough?”

Soonyoung eyes were darting from one to the other as they spoke and he started to understand less and less of their conversation. However for now he favoured the standpoint of Mingyu. “I do agree with the unnecessarily tall one on this.” Mingyu send him a deadly glare while Jihoon had an amused grin on his face that was quickly replaced by a frown. “Surely there are others that are good enough to enter the enemies territory.”

“Both of you don’t understand. First of all Soonyoung,” Soonyoung felt himself swallow as the imposing omega now directed his full attention to him. “I would like to point out that I am the best at investigating. The second best would be Mingyu himself, Seungkwan or Chan. However Mingyu can’t do this mission because he stands out a lot.” Soonyoung wanted to point out the short ones own looks but he didn’t get the chance too. “He seems to much like a threat, I am afraid that they would attack him. I need Seungkwan in Grenhil, because no other can do his job as good as he can. Chan is needed for Grenhil and Strenyard as well. He is simply our best architect and I need our walls to be ready in case of an attack.”

“What about your own tasks?” Mingyu intercepted.

“Jeonghan can do everything that I normally do. I trust him with that.”

Soonyoung felt his head starting to spin as he tried to order all the information he was getting in this short amount of time. “Wait I am missing a detail. How is it not dangerous for you to walk into enemy territory on your own.”

“Because I am a short, cute, harmless little omega boy that no one ever would want to harm and if they do try…” Jihoon didn’t finish his sentence but Soonyoung knew exactly what he had meant to say.

“You are forgetting that this… this… pack… has massacred everyone that came onto their path. No matter their genders.” Mingyu gritted through his teeth, “They won’t spare you, me or anyone for that matter.”

Mingyu was right. It was suicide to go into Exodus territory. At least if you asked Soonyoung it was. But if you asked Soonyoung the Exodus pack had nothing good to it. If it was up to Soonyoung the whole Exodus pack would have to pay for what happened to his own pack. The idea of sending Jihoon into the hands of their enemies haunted him more than he would like to admit. Ever since he realised were he knew that scent from he was looking at the guy with a different mindset.

“Fine…” Jihoon finally answered after what felt like an eternity. His unpleased expression and hunched shoulders told Soonyoung that it wasn’t fine at all. His eyes kept trailing the smaller as he started walking in the direction that his pack mates had disappeared off to a little while ago.

\--- 

It happened later that evening. They had been traveling towards the village called Rostock together with Mingyu and the others. Jihoon had been sulking but nothing indicated that he would disappear at night. That was until Mingyu noticed that Jihoon and all his belongings were gone from camp.

“Soonyoung! Have you seen the little dwarf?” Soonyoung had to do his best not to start laughing but had to deny it. He hadn’t seen Jihoon ever since they ate dinner and that had to be at least a few hours ago. “He is gone… I knew I shouldn’t have trust him. Why did I trust him?” Mingyu asked him but of course he couldn’t answer.

“Can’t you just follow him?” To Soonyoung that would be a logical step. They lost Jihoon so just track him and find him. But Mingyu was looking at him as if he had suggest the most ridiculous thing ever.

“Believe me if I could I would…” The desperation was evident when he talked. “Jihoon won’t leave tracks if he doesn’t want to.”

\---

His feet easily found a steady branch in the tree as he smirked down towards the camp. Below him everyone still enjoyed their evening after the happy encounter with Soonyoungs men. The man himself sat in the middle of his pack members and the stupid smile that graced his face never left during dinner or any other moment. His eyes disappearing into nothingness as his smile deepened. His face seemed nothing like the dangerous alpha that he was supposed to be. If anything the Vanghguard packs alpha looked like an innocent child right now.

\---

It was amusing to say the least to watch over everyone from above. The little quirks of each person highlighted by their normal interactions. Jihoons eyes roamed over everyone that sat around the small campfire. Mingyu was getting along just fine with his new friends, especially Mingyu and Soonyoung seemed to hit it off rather well. Teaming up against him already. Jihoon gritted his teeth in annoyance. For now he would have to wait. Knowing the alphas they would assume that he made a sprint for the Exodus territory. If only they could use their brains for once. Lucky for him Jeonghan wasn’t around. Jeonghan would’ve noticed his lack of supplies for a journey. At least a few weapons would be nice to have. He had travelled with Soonyoung in his wolf form thereby leaving most of his belongings and weapons behind.

To be fair, Jihoon knew as well that he could’ve send someone else to the Exodus territory. His own curious mind wanted to check everything out himself. It is difficult to make a judgement based on other peoples experience and Jihoon wanted to see the feared pack himself. The Exodus pack was intriguing for him… The pack was led in an almost similar fashion to the Grenhil pack but on a larger scale. Eleven men were advising the leader instead of his own five advisors.

The only knowledge that Jihoon had about the Exodus pack had come from merchants that travelled to the far east. In his small inquiries he had learned that the Exodus pack had split of from a different, larger, pack a few years ago. Which pack and for what reason was unknown. The names of the Counsel of Twelve as well as their appearances and genders were unknown. The pack was surrounded with almost more mystery than his own. Who could honestly blame Jihoon for being curious and wanting to learn more? Everyone also wanted to unravel the mysteries of the North Eastern Mountains, the cursed forest that no one ever returned from. Speaking of that… A few Strenyardians would be able to return from Grenhil forest soon. That might start new rumours, rumours that right now could prove dangerous for his pack. The supposed cursed forest served as an extra defence for his pack, scaring away most packs from entering the forest, save for some ‘brave’ souls.

But for now it was a waiting game that unexpectedly went on longer than Jihoon had planned for. His hands were starting to get cold in his position in the tree. Sitting in the same fashion for over an hour was not exactly pleasant. His limps were aging in protest but sitting still was his priority right now. Every small movement could blow his cover high up in the tree. As a movement was easy to spot from below. The Grenhilians were trained to look out for such movements because it could help them when searching for intruders in the forest. 

From his hide out in the tree he could see the commotion below him enfold as news got around that he had vanished. He had to supress his laughter after seeing Mingyus face. Yea… He really should’ve seen that coming. His eyes were drawn to the other alpha that was still lazing around by the campfire. Soonyoung. Jihoon had seen that glimmer in his eyes as the alpha had sniffed the air for his scent. He knew…

\---

“Jihoonieee…” Jeonghans nagging tone reached his ears. “I don’t understand why we have to go already.” The urge to roll his eyes was hard to resist but Jihoon kept a blank face as he looked to his fellow omega. “I understand that there is a strange pack in Strenyard but why the need to leave this fast. We could take anyone down if we had to and you know it.”

Oh how Jihoon wanted to make a remark along the lines of; ‘you just want to stare at Seungcheol and drown in self-misery for a bit longer.’ But he decided to be a good friend and not to address Jeonghans obvious reasons for wanting to stay longer in Strenyard. That faithful encounter first encounter with Seungcheol stood engraved in his own memory as well. And he was reminded of it for all the wrong reasons right now.

Sad news for Jihoon though. Jeonghan could rely on Seungkwan (but mostly his moms) packing skills that required every thinkable and unthinkable item that a person could need. Including a whole medical kit. That luxury was not available for Jihoon right now and boy did he need it right now.

Instead of answering his old friend he simply took his arm and dragged him along to their carriage. Jihoon could feel his control over his scent fading away. He kept wondering why and mostly who was triggering it. He hadn’t noticed anyone unfamiliar looking. Right?

He tried to recollect his memories of the day and if he had missed something or better someone. And it all seemed like a normal day in Strenyard. The same old merchants had visited the town centre, displaying the same old goods that no one really wanted to buy. Except for the food. The food was golden, but the old lady selling him his lovely chicken was the same as every other visit to Strenyard. The guards had all greeted them happily in recognition. No difference there. Literally the only new faces in town would’ve been the Vanghguard pack. The talk of town.

Did he see them? Maybe… They were going to the town hall after their own visit. Seungcheol had been informed of their arrival during their own talks. After closing their deal with the head alpha Jihoon and Jeonghan had walked back towards their inn, while Mingyu had gone towards the storehouses in advance. That was when he had felt it.

Walking out of the townhall! Suddenly he knew. The scent had lingered in front of the townhall when they walked outside. There was only one explanation. Vanghguard. Some member of the stupid warrior pack was triggering him… And that meant little time to escape.

“Jihooonnn…” The prolonged way his name was called indicated Jeonghan losing his patience. The other wouldn’t leave him be if he didn’t tell him what was going on. Or showed him Jihoon thought as he felt his eyes twitching. Well hello ice blue... “Come on tell me what is wrong! You can’t really be that worried ab…” Jihoon had finally turned around to face Jeonghan and was staring up at him. His normally dark brown almost black eyes had changed towards the hue of blue that indicated his instincts taking over. “You just had your heat didn’t you?” Jeonghan asked the question that didn’t even have to be asked. He knew the answer, both of them did.

“I guess you and I have just bad luck… Destined partner. Hell no!” Jihoon scoffed. “I don’t think we do very well with faith…”

“No we certainly don’t. One of us is ignored by their fated partner and the other tries to run from him.” Jeonghan raised eyebrow at Jihoon while talking. “Why are you running Jihoon?”

“There are only a few people new in town that I know off.” He paused a bit before he continued. “And only one alpha…” Jeonghan couldn’t hide his confusion as he hadn’t paid attention to it today. “Vanghguards head alpha is in Strenyard Jeonghan. That is the only possibility. I do not want that alpha as a mate. It won’t do Grenhil any good.”

\---

It had turned out that Jihoon was right. The alpha just never noticed because ever since they met again Jihoon had hidden his scent. While the tempting scent of the alpha had instantly confirmed his own suspicion. Still it had taken the alpha quite a while to identify who Jihoon was. Jeonghan was right… Alphas really are idiots. 

For now he would watch and wait.

\--- 

Mingyu had left the camp a little while ago, heading towards the south west were the Exodus territory was. It was decided that Soonyoung would continue on to Grenhil which meant that he had to travel eastwards for a few more days. Mingyu had dispatched a few messengers to inform others of his presence in the forest. Something Soonyoung was grateful for because it would likely protect him from another blow dart in his ass. That one time by Seungkwan was enough for him. He didn’t need to be reminded of the embarrassment that he felt afterwards.

But somehow Soonyoung became restless as his planned departure came closer. Something was off. At least to him it was.

Jihoon didn’t have any travelling supplies. He instantly gave an order to the nearest Grenhillian to count their supplies to see if anything was missing. To which the latter returned soon after in denial. Everything was still were it was.

That meant Jihoon didn’t have a tent, sleeping bag, spare clothes or anything that you would need in the mountains for travelling such as decent boots. They had left them behind with Jeonghan when they separated to move to Grenhil. In wolf form. Which Jihoon wasn’t in right now because there was no scent to track. It all just clicked in his head right now and that was when he had a revelation.

Jihoon was still around. Somewhere near the camp. He had to be watching them to make sure the camp was empty enough. If he were Jihoon, were would he go.

His eyes strayed from the tents surrounding his own towards the trees. One in particular stood out to him. A nice old chestnut tree located to his right, above Jihoons own tent. Which meant that Jihoon would’ve spied on them the whole time. From that tree he should be able to see Mingyu move out of camp as well as the movements indicating his own departure in a few hours. The rest of the camp, including his own people, would leave next thing tomorrow morning.

Time to make a plan.

\---

Jihoon had seen the Vanghguard packs alpha leave half an hour ago. Hooded on a horse together with a Grenhilian guide. Right now the rest of the camp was getting ready for bed. A few watchmen were going to their posts just outside of his own line of sight. Now was the time to move.

With elegant moves he slowly made his way to the ground, making as little sound as possible. Slender arms were searching the branches for a good hold. The beautiful chestnut tree had served him well for the last three hours but his own limps were a little less happy. As soon as his feet hit the ground his eyes scanned the area around him for movements. Nothing to see. He got up and stretched his arms and legs that were sore from the long wait. Once he deemed it enough and his muscles had relaxed a bit he started moving again.

He knew his subordinates and their normal habits. Right now some would have drunk to much alcohol by the campfire, making them sleep soundly through any of the little noises that Jihoon produced. The ones that were sober were tired and tried to sleep a little before their own watchmen shifts. In a few hours their comrades would wake them up to take over their posts at the outskirts of the camp. In other words none would pay attention to Jihoon slowly making his way to the carriage that carried most supplies. He would at least need some decent boots. Maybe some basic weapons but he still needed to retrieve his favourite weaponry in Grenhil.

His silent steps had taken him all the way to the back of the camp were he climbed into the back of the carriage after looking around and making sure no one saw him. He might need to lecture his packmates about the lack of decent security in their camp. Jihoon might be quite good at sneaking around but still… The ease of it was alarming and if anyone with ill intentions did the same it wouldn’t end well for his friends. His mind was already thinking about leaving a note somewhere to frighten his packmates but maybe he should just do it later on. Or inform Jeonghan of his packs shortcomings. He instantly felt sorry for all the men and women around him. Yea… Jeonghans lectures were far worse than his own. A note would be better. He had to inform the pack of his whereabouts. That note could also contain a letter for Seungcheol. He wasn't allowed to tell others than his most trusted advisers of the Grenhil pack just yet. His pack must remain a secret except for a few trusted ones.

The darkness was making it impossible for him to see inside the carriage with his human eyes. He had tried to wait for them to adjust but it just wasn’t enough. With a sigh he concentrated on his eyes and slowly the colour changed towards blue. Granting him a beautiful blue and yellow night view. How very convenient he thought. But Jihoon had been to distracted for he failed to see the golden eyes that were staring at him from the back of the carriage.

\-----

\----


	18. Chapter seventeen

Chapter seventeen: The secret of Old Grenhil

A cough in the back of the wagon scared the living creeps out of him as his head snapped into the direction of the sound. Finally he noticed the pair of eyes that was staring at him.

“Took you long enough Woozi.” There was only one person that called him that.

“Soonyoung.” Soonyoungs eyes that were focussing on him in the dark shined bright gold.

“Yo!” The wide smile on the tallers face annoyed Jihoon. Why was the idiot here… “I thought you didn’t have any supplies for a journey.” The answer came as if Soonyoung read his thoughts. Jihoon remained speechless as he stared at Soonyoung. “Are you that surprised? You hurt me.”

“How?” Jihoon stammered, “Why?” He left no time for Soonyoung to answer between his own words. His mind was running circles trying to figure out what he missed in his plan. How was the alpha able to figure it out that easily. If one person behaved like an airhead it had to be Soonyoung. It just didn’t make any sense to the short tempered omega.

“Honestly if you travel enough it is quite obvious. You don’t like fighting in wolf-form, none of you Grenhilians seems to take a particular liking to it actually. So you at least needed weapons. But all the weapons we had were still in their original places. Even for the travel towards Grenhil to gather weapons I figured that you’d feel safer if you could protect yourself better. Honestly Woozi it was quite predictable.” The explanation didn’t ease Jihoons mind at all.

“So what now? You know that I need supplies and went to the place where I would likely search for them. What is next?”

Soonyoung titled his head slightly. “I want to come with you.” His face lighting up in a smug grin.

But Jihoon wasn’t having it. “No.” Was his simple answer. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Yes. I want to see those bastards too.” Soonyoung still looking straight at him, but his aggravation was already starting to show. He wasn’t used to being denied what he wanted by others, except for Jisoo. Jisoo could deny him anything but he was more of an exception. 

“You are going to blow my cover as soon as anyone of importance walks in Soonyoung. Who is going to stop you from trying to rip off someone’s head?” Honestly Jihoon knew just what Soonyoung would do. The result wouldn’t be pretty for any of them. And if there was a life or death situation he still preferred life. An attack on your own clan members in your own territory wouldn’t taken lightly by any pack. Revenge was a nasty concept, but it was quite prevalent among their societies. It was the driving force for Soonyoung himself right now and it didn’t aid him in making rational decisions. “You are unable to think clear with your mind clouded by wrath. I won’t take you with me. Besides, an alpha entering enemy territory? That is just asking for trouble. Unlike my own pack members you are unable to hide your scent. You can’t pretend to be a beta.”

In any other occasion Soonyoung might’ve realised the flaws in his plan. Just like Jihoon could see the dangers of his own strategy.

“Well you’re not going to come very far without weapons, clothes or basic supplies. Unless you want to travel in your wolf form. Which I doubt considering the fact that you can’t hide your scent like that and because I believe you’re significantly weaker when you use it.” Soonyoung was brimming with self confidence as he was talking. Despite his prior knowledge of Jihoon he failed to see the biggest fault in his plan. And no, that wasn’t Jihoons refusal to travel together.

With a sigh Jihoon crouched further down in the cart, disappearing temporarily from Soonyoungs sight due to his small frame. Those milliseconds were enough.

Two smooth jumps over boxes and crates brought him right next to the tall masculine alpha. Out of a pocket of his belt he grabbed a small knife that he ever so carefully pressed onto the alphas unprotected throat. “You didn’t think this through Soonyoung.” His free hand moved further, taking one of Soonyoungs arms and pressing it in a tight hold behind his back while his other hand was still securing the knife in its previous position. “I am not in my wolf form right now and as you might’ve noticed I am armed. I must admit it’s a bit scarce but it still counts.”

You see, Soonyoung made a few small but important mistakes. First of all he kept talking and got distracted by his own aggravated mind. Second he forgot the basic knowledge of a warrior. Never underestimate your opponent and never ever think that they are unarmed. Third the crowded small space proved much easier for Jihoon to manoeuvre than for Soonyoung.

“You won’t.” Soonyoung whispered with the knife still pressed against him. The blade slightly scraping his skin as he talked, creating a small cut.

Jihoon rolled his eyes, he was right. He wouldn’t hurt him. Not now. Not when they needed each other in order to fight the Exodus pack. “True. Still that doesn’t mean that I will just let you go like this.” To illustrate his words he put a bit more pressure on the arm that he was still holding behind Soonyoungs back, leading to the other to hiss at the sharp pain that ran along his arm and shoulder. “You’re still not coming with me. Stay in Grenhil, try to find more members of your pack. If these men survived I am sure that there are more out there.” His voice was surprisingly sweet and soothing as he spoke. “Learn a new tactic or two. Than maybe one day you can beat me or maybe you can join me next time…”

Soonyoungs attention was grabbed by the last line. It implied them staying together for longer than he had anticipated. Or maybe it was exactly what he had hoped for, all he could hope for really. He had seen Grenhil and had fallen in love with the place. With the forest itself and with it's inhabitants even though he knew little to nothing about the pack. In his heart he hoped he could stay. His own Vanghguard pack was nothing now compared to it’s former glory. So many great warriors had left on his journey north over the years. Staying behind in the lands they had conquered. That was when it hit him. More people for their cause! They had merged with other packs and chosen to leave their traveling days behind but if he asked maybe they would join him once again to revenge their old friends.

“Next time I will join you.” The knife on his throat was lifted and his arm was released. He turned around to face the smaller omega in front of him. A soft smile caused Jihoons eyes to shape two small crescents and created dimples in his cheeks as it got wider. Soonyoung reached behind him and took a bag from a crate. “There you go. I think these are all necessities. You will go to Grenhil first I guess?”

Jihoon nodded and took it gratefully. “Please don’t tell the others.”

“I won’t. In Grenhil they don’t even know about your great plan yet. It should be easy to get what you need.”

No more words were exchanged as Jihoon turned around and made his way out of the supplies carriage. As he set his first foot out of the wagon he heard a soft voice behind him. “Stay safe Woozi and stay in contact whenever you can.”

Pushing the hood of his cloak further over his head Jihoon continued walking. “I will.”

\---

Jeonghan felt like he was slowly going crazy. Sure he had been hiding his scent during the time they had travelled together. So Seungcheol couldn’t smell him. But destiny had to have some sort of other mechanic to recognize your fated one right? Fate is a joke, he thought, kicking a little pebble with his foot. They had reached the little stream that would lead towards Grenhil. In around half an hour they would hit the main road. Wonwoo and Jisoo were riding next to him and Seungcheol and Seokmin were following behind them. Only one day of travelling was left… Then Jeonghan would finally be back at his home. He longed to see his friends and packmates again. Needing the comfort that they could offer him. Jeonghan wasn’t weak but this whole situation was tiring. He just wanted to lie down and sleep. However at home only more work would await him. 

“We will reach the main road soon.” He announced to his fellow travellers that were unfamilliar with the roads of Grenhil.

Wonwoo looked up at him surprised, “A main road? I thought you guys were all about secrecy.”

“We need to transport our own goods between the different Grenhillian settlements.” Seokmin stated behind him.

“Multiple settlements? How big is your territory!” Wonwoo exclaimed surprised. 

Jeonghan couldn’t help himself and chuckled slightly. “Oh we haven’t told you half of it yet.” He turned around in his saddle and pointed to Seokmin. “Seokmin likes talking so I am sure he would be happy to tell you everything. I don’t think Jihoon will hold it against me if we told you. You are bound to know more about us anyways if you travel to Grenhil. The preparations that we need to make would spoil everything anyways.”

Seokmin took his reins in his hands and spurred his horse to walk a little faster until he was next to Jisoo, Wonwoo and Jeonghan. Thereby leaving Seungcheol behind. “Ah the great territory of the Grenhil pack. I wonder why you thought it was small.”

“I have seen Grenhil,” Wonwoo offered, “and I am sorry but it didn’t seem a big place. The village except for that castle was all made out of wood. Even the little town hall was a round wooden hut.”

“But have you really seen Grenhil?” The riddle posed only more questions for Seokmins listeners. “Because I don’t think you have.”

“I have been in Grenhil for three days. Of course I have seen it.”

“That is were you are wrong though Wonwoo.” Jeonghan meddled. “What you’ve seen is Grenhil. The settlement of our ancestors and Grenhil Castle. But you’ve only seen one part of the city, you haven’t seen the City of Grenhil.”

Wonwoo got confused now. He had seen the wooden houses nestled in the trees. The castle that lied next to the beautiful blue lake. Covered by large rocks at two others side and the front of the castle facing the town of wooden treehouses. Only a few houses had been on the built on the ground and those had been decorated with flowers and bushes. Everything that could be needed in a village had been there. A smithy, a bakery, the little marketplace, the butcher, there even were different tailors. Talk about a luxury!

“Grenhil castle was built around two centuries ago but was remodelled in more recent years giving it it’s stone outer walls. The design copies the defences of Grenhil.” Seokmin continued to further confuse Wonwoo. As the town he had seen clearly didn’t have stone walls surrounding it. The only thing that surrounded Grenhil had been the emerald forest. Jeonghan saw it and decided to step in before Seokmin made it worse.

“Wonwoo, the real city of Grenhil lies behind Grenhil Castle. Behind all the rock formations. The lake makes another turn behind the rocks. The entry to the city can be found in Grenhil castle or over the lake by boat as the city is completely surrounded by mountains. Our ancestors stumbled across a cave that lead deep into the mountains and ended at a wide open space protected from eyes of strangers by huge rock formations. Grenhil castle is build before the real entrance to conceal it. The entrance to the City of Grenhil.” Jeonghan tried to explain and finally their words were making sense to the omega.

“Do you lead all your captives to the fake town?” Seungcheol inquired from behind.

Seokmin turned around before answering. “It isn’t a fake town though. We really live there. Except for Jihoon who would normally reside at Grenhil Castle all of the other counsel members tend to live in Grenhil instead of the city.”

“Why would your most important pack members live in the more unprotected part of your town?”

“Tradition I guess?” Seokmin tried to answer but really there was no real reason why they lived in the wooden town. It didn’t occur to anyone that it might’ve been less safe. Besides it was easier to travel over the territory if you didn’t have to pass all the gates towards Grenhil. If it was a busy day that could take ages. “But that wasn’t what I was going to tell. Well only part of it. You asked how big our territory was. I would say quite enormous.”

“Nice description Seokmin.” Jeonghan gave his friend a thumbs up to which the other rolled his eyes.

“Our territory covers most of the eastern mountain range. Stretching from the borders of your own territory to the sea in the east. The whole ‘Cursed Forest’ falls under our command. It used to be smaller but nowadays it is quite large and we need a lot of men to uphold the ‘Curse’.” Seokmin explained further. “Since our territory is this large it is impossible to run it from one town. As a result camps were created outside of Grenhil as the territory expanded. Those camps slowly grew into full fletched towns themselves. Most towns have their own specialty. For example Rostock maintains most of our livestock. Grenhil is our military base and is were most of our pupils train, Grenhil is also the centre of commerce, knowledge and power for our territory.”

“Isn’t your territory almost as large as the rumoured Exodus territory?” Jisoo was trying to fit Seokmins words into the map inside his head. Filling the gaps of land that they thought belonged to other packs or to nobody with the name Grenhil. There was only one other pack that he knew with a territory that big, Exodus. Their own pack the Vanghguard pack was close behind, or had been close behind. Although all the towns they had conquered should still be under Soonyoungs demand, their own fighting force had been reduced to scraps. If Soonyoung disappeared for an extended period of time, the settlements would be likely to start to governing themselves again. 

“Could be.” The way Jeonghan spoke seemed to hide something.

“It’s larger isn’t it?” Seungcheol caught on quite quickly and Jeonghan raised his hands in defence.

“I haven’t measured everything but I think so yes. Our territory itself is larger, but our population isn’t as dense. As you might know mountains aren’t that easy to inhabit. We rely on valleys and the small clearings inside the forests for creating living spaces. There simply aren’t that many. Also most people are simple towns people that don’t know how to fight properly. They do learn simple techniques such as hiding your scent,” Seungcheol, Jisoo and Wonwoo looked at each other knowingly. It wasn’t easy to hide your scent, in fact none of them had met anyone who could do it. Until they met the Grenhillians. “So they can hide in the forest in case of emergency. But mostly they learn skills that are used in their own respective towns. I am afraid that we are no match for Exodus in case of a direct attack. The only secure place would be Grenhil itself. The reason for the alliance isn’t actually to protect Grenhil…”

“It’s to be able to protect the other parts of your territory?” Seungcheol guessed right away.

“Indeed.” Jeonghan suddenly lifted one hand up in a gesture that urged them to be quiet. “Nancy please don’t shoot us.”

From a tree in front of them emerged a woman kled in grey and green coloured clothing. Her hood and mantle were all made of coloured wool that merged perfectly with her surroundings. With graceful strides she approached Jeonghan and Seokmin who had positioned themselves in front of their companions. “It’s been a long time Jeonghan.”

“It has only been two weeks.”

“Oh well, with all the rumours going around in Grenhil it seemed much longer.”

Seokmins interested was sparked, “What rumours?” He asked as he eyed Nancy closely.

Nancy wiggled her eyebrows, “Would you like to know?”

“Oh come on you two, we don’t have time for this.” Jeonghan interrupted the two friends who both looked disappointed at his lack of patience. “We hurry back to Grenhil so we can finally start with the real work. Has Jihoon passed yet?”

Nancy shook her head in surprise, “No he hasn’t. Should he?”

“He left together with an alpha in order to travel faster two days ago.” Jeonghan had to supress the urge to look worried. If one person would be fine in the forest it was Jihoon, yet a feeling of unease crept in his heart.

“Did he finally find himself a man!?” The serious atmosphere was gone instantly as Nancy squealed happily. Jeonghan rubbed his temples in a last effort not to lose his own mind.

“Can we just continue on our way, please?” His voice dripping of annoyance which Nancy luckily noticed.

“Ah, I’m so sorry Jeonghan! Of course you can. Free passage for all of you.” She winked at the rest of the travellers and turned around. She let out a high pitched whistle that was swiftly repeated by others. “That should do it. Safe travels and maybe we will meet again soon.” With those words the beautiful young lady turned around to disappear into the tree line once again.

Seungcheol followed her with his eyes and only now he noticed the little plateau that was located up in the tree. On top of it sat two other women that were keeping watch. Seokmin saw him looking up and rode next to him. “That is the normal watch plateau. There are hundreds of them inside the forest as well as treehouses that serve as beds for our watchmen and women. Only the person who knows where to look will find them though.” He added as he saw Seungcheol scan the rest of the surrounding trees for possible tree houses. “I will just tell you that they aren’t situated as closely together as you are thinking right now. They are however in range to hear various whistles and other ways of communication. Wolf hearing range that is.”

Seokmin left Seungcheol behind to stare at the tree for a little while longer as he continued walking through out the bushes. Following a path that right now only he and Jeonghan could see but it didn’t take them much longer to reach a real road. A broad road, lined with nicely carved stones. Various cart tracks were visible in the muddy underground.

They reached the first crossroad after riding a few minutes. The road got busier as they travelled further towards Grenhil. Merchants and families travelled on horses, carriages and by foot. Just a few more hours and they would reach the Castle. After that Jeonghan had promised they would go to the City instead of the wooden town in front of the castle. It was time to show them the real Grenhil.

\----


	19. Chapter eighteen

Chapter Eighteen: There are plenty of stars in the northern night sky

Soonyoungs eyes roamed over the lake, trying to spot something interesting in the distance as his mind ran wild. Two months had passed since he said goodbye to the small omega. The hot sun rays blasting down on his skin made him reminisce the warm soft weather that had accompanied spring. Right now it was the middle of summer. The hills that had glistered in fresh green during spring were now sporting a dried out brown colour due to the lack of rain. Even for his own standards of warm summers down south it was hot. Pearls of sweat were dripping down his forehead as he moved along the shoreline. Mingyu trailed a little bit behind him, also soaked in sweat. Their training sessions were tiring and drained them both of all their energy in a good way. But today the blazing sun had claimed yet two other victims as they had called it quits early. Even the shadow provided by the trees had proven to be too warm. The hot air trapped beneath the leaves was suffocating them as they had practised their martial arts on each other. Soonyoung was thankful for the training that the other provided. In the beginning he had trained with Seokmin but in terms of pure strength Soonyoung was simply too powerful for the beta. By no means was Seokmin a bad fighter, but he was lengths behind Mingyu. Who in turn told Soonyoung that Jeonghan was even more difficult of an opponent. Never before had the alpha won of the omega which he blamed on Jeonghan using dirty tricks. Something Jeonghan seemed to acknowledge himself, but he didn’t care about it. “On a battlefield you shouldn’t expect your opponent to fight as honourable as yourself Mingyu. People will take advantage of it. Be happy that I thought you that now, instead of finding out by tasting the cold metal of a sword.” 

Soonyoung had to admit Jeonghan was right. At first Soonyoung had the biggest difficulty while trying to keep up with Mingyu. As they were sparring the first few times, Mingyu had let him taste defeat over and over again. Hurting his pride. Jeonghans words however thought him the flaws in Mingyu’s fighting style. He just wouldn’t use anything that he deemed underhanded or cheating. Following the example set by the omega Soonyoung made good use of it. Throwing sand up from the beach to temporarily blind the tall alpha he had earned his first win. As a result Mingyu had agreed to teach him the basics of Grenhils fighting style. Only the basics. Because the real teacher wasn’t around and his right hand man was too busy to help out. Occasionally Jeonghan would drop by to leave his remarks about both of their shortcomings.

Together with Jeonghan his own friend Jisoo would show up. The two had gotten surprisingly close over the last couple of weeks. Their blossoming friendship creating another bond between their respective packs. In regards to their packs bonding, a part of the Grenhil pack had been quite sceptical about the arrival of the Vanghguards in their middle. Not everyone had welcomed them with open arms. And if Soonyoung was honest, he didn’t know if he would’ve been as accepting as most Grenhillians were. His pack was known for their war waging ways. They weren’t exactly a peaceful pack most of the time, but his injured and lost packmates had been taken into Grenhilian homes. Soonyoungs respect for Jihoon and his pack had risen tenfold when he saw how his friends were treated.

The sceptics however greatly opposed when Soonyoung announced his plan of letting old and now settled Vanghguards join their alliance. Jeonghan had surprisingly taken the side of the sceptics. Despite the alliance the existence of the Grenhil pack had been kept a secret for most Strenyardians. That had been one of the safeguards Jihoon had argued for when they had formed their alliance. Jeonghan and Jihoon didn’t want the world to know where their home was. How their defences were organized and where they could be hit the hardest. Even Soonyoung himself wasn’t trusted with most of Grenhils secrets. And somehow he was sure that they were keeping more from him than they led on.

The declination of Jeonghan had let to Soonyoung sending messages for old Vanghguard pack members to go to Strenyard instead. During his conquest several of his pack members had settled in villages along the way. Founding their own families and leaving the warring ways of the Vanghguard pack far behind. With the message of revenge and protecting old friends Soonyoung had asked them to join his cause. A call for help that most of his old pack members heeded. An almost ongoing stream of old warriors made their way over to Strenyard. At first Seungcheo tried to house them inside the city but he didn’t know what to do with them. Most of them were restless while they sat around waiting for commands. Until Chan came with a great idea.

Chan had been tasked by Jihoon with strengthening the walls of Strenyard (and also Grenhil). As he had designed most of Grenhils defences he was perfectly fit for the job. There had been one problem. Manpower. Building stone walls took a great amount of time. And time was the only resource that they couldn’t afford to lose. With the old Vanghguard members sitting around Strenyard restlessly without a job at hand they became aggressive and started causing problems for the Strenyardians. Chans problemsolving was simple, but it worked. Let them help with building, it will be less dangerous than scouting and fighting which a lot Vanghguards also appreciated since they had families of their own waiting for them at home. It taught them some new ways of building that they could implement themselves later on and it finally did something to ease their boredom.

Minghao and Junhui had helped Chan with pointing out the several weak spots in Strenyards defences, after which the young beta had designed several plans for the town. In the end he reported to Seungcheol and Jeonghan one month ago asking them both to choose which one they liked best. Seungcheol of course wanted the strongest one of them all, but Jeonghan saw the flaws in the design as it would take years to finish. In the end Chan had started working on a more time efficient design and last week they had finally started with construction.

Seungcheol himself had been traveling between Strenyard and Grenhil. Keeping tabs on any news of Jihoon while making sure everything in Strenyard was progressing smoothly. He had joined Soonyoungs and Mingyus training sessions a few times but dropped out with the excuse of little time. After which he would join Jeonghan and Jisoo once again.

Multiple times Soonyoung had caught Seungcheol staring at Jeonghan from afar. With the occasional glare directed at Jisoo when the latter got too close to Jeonghan. It amused Soonyoung to great extents to watch the little drama unfold. He had caught on to the situation a few days ago and had confronted Jeonghan about his troubled ‘relationship’ with Seungcheol. In Jeonghans eyes Seungcheol was uninterested in him but Soonyoung knew better. Seungcheol could easily stay in Strenyard but the alpha insisted on traveling back and forth to Grenhil to discuss just about anything with Jeonghan. The omega didn’t seem to notice that Seungcheol kept hanging around after all was said and done. Instead of going back to Strenyard he kept a close watch on the developing friendship between Jisoo and Jeonghan. From Soonyoungs’ point of view only one emotion was fit to match the situation. Jealousy. However he felt that it was not his place to comment about it or to bring it up in a conversation. The two were both adults that were perfecty able to discuss their own problems. He would wait and only step in if their troubled relationship threatened their alliance or his own safety while staying in Grenhil.

“Soonyoung!” His head snapped in the direction of the sound. Seungkwan came running down the road towards him. He felt his heart speed up. Would there finally be a message? Seungkwan had returned from one of his many outings yesterday. It had taken Jeonghan a whole lot of effort to get Hansol away from the omega so that he could listen to his reports. Thinking about it this alliance was starting to create all sorts of new friendships and bonds. Maybe it really was part of destinies plan, he thought bitterly, because if this was destiny than so was the demise of his own pack. If there was a god playing with them like this, he would personally go and find him in the afterlife.

He raised his eyebrows at Seungkwan as the latter finally reached him, out of breath the omega stood next to him. Leaning with his arms on his legs while breathing heavily. With a soft shake of his head Soonyoung placed a hand on Seungkwan shoulder. “What’s wrong Seungkwan?”

The younger was still unable to respond and instead resorted to using all sorts of hand gestures making Soonyoung even more confused. His mind wandered towards the news he wanted to hear. To finally get that one message that he had been waiting on for two months.

\---

Soonyoung was leaning on the ramparts of Grenhil castle. His arms folded beneath his head lazily as he supported his wait on them. Two weeks had passed since Jihoon left him behind in the damn wagon. He sighed, nothing yet. Footsteps approached him and he turned his head without lifting it up from his arms. A pair of nice brown boots came into his line of sight and he slowly let his eyes travel upwards to meet he face of the person that disturbed his lonely thoughts.

“Why are you out here looking this miserable?” The words reached his ears before his eyes moved to the face of the person next to him. Jeonghan.

“Nothing…” Soonyoung was surprised by the misery and self pity that were dripping of his voice as he talked. 

“Sure sounds like something.” Jeonghan leaned his own arms right next to Soonyoung, copying the others position on the ramparts. “I must say there are more comfortable places to rest in this castle.” He commented as he tried to find a place on the wall where he could lay down. “Now spill.”

Soonyoung felt his mouth drop open a bit as he stared at Jeonghan. The omega truly was beautiful. Even more so up close. Yet the only thing he could think of was a different person and their safety. Life was weird. He didn’t even know why he was this emotional right now. The words Jeonghan spoke failed to lift up his spirits, instead he felt his mood turn even more sour.

“Soonyoung…” Jeonghans soft voice once again interrupted his straying thoughts. “He will be alright.” A kind smile was offered to him while Jeonghan tried to reassure him.

Instead of wondering why Jeonghan knew what was going on inside his head he questioned Jeonghans reassurance. “He is alone in enemy territory. How is he going to be alright?” A deep sigh escaped his lips. “Not even one message. The least he could do was keep us updated on his safety.”

Jeonghan padded his back. “You better get used to it.” He turned around and leaned on his elbows, overlooking the courtyard below them. “Jihoon will be fine. He normally doesn’t send any messages during his little endeavours. I know that alphas always want to make sure an omega they care about is safe, but sometimes you really have to let go.”

“How do you know I care about Jihoon that much?”

“I know Jihoon cares. Your face when you arrived here alone told the other part of the story. Sometimes destiny knows what it's doing.” The melancholic tone went past Soonyoungs attention as he only focussed on the meaning of the words. Jeonghan knew.

“He cares about me?”

“Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, believe me. Jihoon has cared about you ever since you first met him down at the river. He left you his coat. Later on he chose to take you to Grenhil consciously. Although he himself might not admit it, he cares.” Jeonghan gave him a little squeeze in his arm. “Don’t worry about him this much. Just make sure you do whatever you can while he is away.” With those words the pretty man left him alone once again.

\--

It took Soonyoung another month to realize what Jeonghan had meant. He wasn’t the only one that had met their destined mate. Jeonghan had too.

“Jeonghan, Seungcheol is your fated pair isn’t he?” One day Soonyoung decided to just pop the question to the older man. “Why are you two ignoring each other…”

“It’s the fault of that stupid idiot.” Jeonghan had scoffed, “I'm not the one ignoring him. He has never figured it out… Or he never cared enough to start with.”

That was something that Soonyoung didn’t understand. Seungcheol had been stealing glances at Jeonghan whenever he could. “What do you mean by that?”

His question drew another sigh from Jeonghan, “Seungcheol only has eyes for Jihoon.” Soonyoung didn’t expect those words to have an impact on him, but somehow he felt dark clouds wash over his mind. “I have long since given up. Besides I don’t have time for this whole destiny thing. Not when my fated one is an idiot that doesn’t even realize my existence.”

“But you two spend so much time togeth-…” Soonyoung tried to argue but he was interrupted by Jeonghan.

“We only ever talk about this stupid alliance, Grenhil, Strenyard, war or Jihoon.” He kicked against a small pebble that lay in front of his feet. “He has never inquired about me at all. Like I told you. Seungcheol doesn’t know who I really am or what we are. He isn’t interested.” Jeonghan gave Soonyoung a pitiful look, before shrugging his shoulders and redirecting his attention from Soonyoung to the small rocks at his feet.

“How doesn’t he know. I mean it is pretty obvious. If you meet for the first time the scent of the other will be engraved in your system.” Soonyoung had traced the scent out of Strenyard the first time, until he was hit with the little needle of doom. Otherwise he would’ve found Jihoon right away.

“That is if you smell it.” Jeonghan moved a lock of hair out of his face a graceful hand movement. “You know that we can block our scent. I did it when I knew what was happening the first time I met Seungcheol. After that he never realized.” Jeonghan lowered himself on the ground. “I guess only I am to blame for this situation.”

Soonyoung wanted to continue talking but Jeonghan got up and nodded towards him before taking his leave once again. Leaving Soonyoung behind.

\---

“Seungkwan what’s wrong?” Mingyu had caught up with Soonyoung and was now leaning on the other alphas shoulders as he talked to Seungkwan.

“Scout reports are coming in. Jeonghan wants both of you back at the castle now. Seungcheol is already on his way. I am going to find Hansol.” The still red faced omega turned around on his heels and started to sprint towards the town, quickly disappearing out of sight.

“Well I guess we better get a move on. If Jeonghan got Seungkwan to run this fast, there has to be some big news.” Mingyu chirped beside him. Soonyoung could only think about the person that he wanted the message to be about. He hoped that there would finally be news about Jihoon, but his heart got anxious the more he thought about the omega. He was desperately praying that it wasn’t a bad sign.

\---

The great hall of Grenhil Castle was empty except for Jisoo who had been waiting for them. “Jihoon’s room.”

Soonyoung nodded and hurried towards the door in the back of the room that would lead to the small office that Jihoon normally occupied. Right now it served as their meeting room. Once he entered he saw Jeonghan and Seungcheol standing together while observing a map. Mind you, standing quite close together. Soonyoung felt his eyebrows raising slightly at the sight and took a deep breath while trying to control his expressions. His eyes wandered to Seungcheol hand that was placed on Jeonghans back. Development. Finally! Now wasn’t the time for a celebration dance because other matters were at hand.

“Jeonghan? What’s wrong?” Mingyu had entered behind him and spoke up first. Taking Jeonghans attention away from the map. The sudden intrusion caused Seungcheols hand to slip away from the omegas back, while he took a small step back. Soonyoung was observing every little movement that the two older man were making. Something had definitely happened or so he thought.

Instead of answering Jeonghan took a small note from the table top and threw it towards Mingyu and Soonyoung. The latter of which scooped it up from mid-air.

‘There are more stars up north than there are down south. It is truly extraordinary. You should take a closer look at night.’

Soonyoung was this close to bursting out in anger if it wasn’t for the serious look on Jeonghans face as well as Mingyus darkened expression. “What does this mean?” He questioned instead.

“There are plenty of stars in the north.” Jeonghan rephrased the sentence a bit but it still didn’t make any sense to Soonyoung who remained the only clueless person in the room. “This is the very first report Jihoon has send. The danger isn’t in the south where we expected it to be. It’s up north. Jihoon send us a warning.”


	20. Chapter nineteen

Chapter nineteen: Do you play?

Jihoon swung his guitar over his back in one swift movement as he made his way through the bushes. The days of traveling had taken it’s toll on his already small body and he felt the fatigue creeping up on him. His eyes kept wandering over the scenery in front of him, trying to find anything suspicious in the seemingly peaceful group of buildings in front of him. One month worth of walking, sneaking, talking to strangers and most of all avoiding possible dangers made his limps ache, his muscles felt sore and the thought of a warm bed was very appealing to him. But not yet! He urged himself to take a better look. Until now he had been safe in his travels. First he had gone south towards the old encampment of the Vanghguard pack. Following the tracks surrounding the camp had led him towards his first encounter with the Exodus packmembers and it hadn’t been a pleasant meeting. His right side had been bruised for the next week and he still felt one sore spot on his lower back. They sure packed a good punch, but he couldn’t cover the devilish grin that was gracing his face as he recalled those events. He still beat them. All twelve of them. But that had been over three weeks ago and right now he was traveling to the far north. 

After Jihoon deemed the little inn safe enough he made his way over towards the door and knocked to gain access. The innkeeper was surprised to see the small figure standing on his front porch, but his initial hesitation to invite the short male in vanished when he spotted the wooden instrument on his back.

“Do you play?” The obviously nervous man asked him.

“I do indeed play,” the words left his mouth as if he had done this his whole life, “but I play much better with some food in front of me and a warm bed to sleep in for the night.” He offered the innkeeper his sweetest smile and the man instantly moved out of the way.

“I don’t want to brag or anything, but my wife does make the best stew in the whole northern mountain range and I can offer you a place to sleep. Let’s say the better you play, the better you sleep.” The man offered him his hand that he gladly shook.

“We sir, have a deal!” He walked in and searched for a seat in the already jam packed inn. The place was definitely blooming in business. But knowing the peoples habits, a few nice songs to sing along to would make business even better for the owner. The man in question was already rolling another barrel of his favourite liquor into the room, ready to serve his costumers all the drinks they would need this evening.

A woman spotted him while he was looking around for a place to sit and she moved out of her seat while signing towards him. “Do you still need a place to sit bard?” He nodded his head and offered a thankful smile as he took her seat on the bench. Taking his guitar from his back and swinging it over his lap he let his hand travel over the chords that he knew so well. The sound of music turned several heads into his direction.

“Are you going to play sir?”

“Aight I am.”

“Do you know any good old tales?”

“More than my young age might let on.” He gave the old lady next to him a wink, which caused the man next to her to laugh while quickly pulling his wife closer to him. 

“Ay Old Kwon, give this man some beer!” The man urged the innkeeper, apparently called Old Kwon, who was already on his way with a pint in his hand.

“On it.” Old Kwon answered as he gracefully hold the drink in front of Jihoon. 

With a pleased nod of his head he took the pint from the man and took a little sip of the drink, “You serve a fine beer sir! I am sure that this will aid me in my storytelling.”

“It better!” The innkeeper agreed with a smirk. 

And so he started his evening filled with music and laughter. The long journey had thought him how to play with a crowd and which songs to play when. Old Kwon served him his stew and he had to acknowledge that the cook had done a very good job. Right now he was taking a small break to enjoy his beer and he was soon joined by multiple men that crowded him with compliments. The alcohol had already intoxicated most of them, which was quite helpful in his next task. Gaining information. So far his search for intel on the Exodus pack had led him from the southern ends of Grenhil forest slowly towards the north. Although he had learned a lot about the Exodus pack, there was still a lot to learn.

According to his sources the Exodus pack had split off from their original pack around seven years ago and after that they had quickly taken over multiple lands in quite an aggressive fashion. They were feared more than any other pack. But what surprised him was the overall positivity that the people had about the previous pack of Exodus. Even the first two years of Exodus had been quite peaceful, it was only five years ago that they had started conquering land after land. But in some way they were prosperous and they brought their wealth with them wherever they went. Yet the cost of this prosperity was high. Too high. The remains of multiple massacres were scattered across the land. Those who stood in the way of the Exodus pack were quickly eliminated. Their goal was a mystery. No one knew why the Exodus pack was this keen on conquering more land. Their old pack was known for their peaceful ways. At one point Jihoon had thought about traveling towards the original pack, but the journey would take too long and time was the one resource that he couldn’t waste.

“May I know your name bard?”

A man interrupted his thoughts and his head flew up to meet a pair of curious eyes.

“Woozi.” He had chosen to use the name that he had given Soonyoung. His own name somehow didn’t feel safe enough. “I am no bard though, not really. I am only traveling up north in search of my lost family members.” The small lie left his lips as it had done multiple times in the past and had the same effect it always had. The women around him ushering sighs and the atmosphere dropping.

“I didn’t mean to offend you Woozi.” The man clasped his hands together as he apologized.

“None taken, you couldn’t know and I don’t really mind telling the story. It might help me find them if they know I am looking for them.” The attention of the tables surrounding him was now also focussed on him. “Our pack was attacked by the Exodus pack a year ago. Ever since then I have been traveling in order to find them.”

Multiple people turned away, their faces covered with pity. Old Kwon had joined their table and was the first person to speak up. “I doubt that you will find them young man. The Exodus pack attacks ruthlessly. I would give up on finding them if I were you.” The words that he left unspoken were left up in the air. Everyone knew. Most people don’t survive encounters with the Exodus pack warriors.

“Sometimes they take people away! Maybe the same fate awaited my family.” Jihoon spoke further and now he saw a man coming towards his table. The man had been eyeing him the whole evening and something in his demeanour send shivers down his spine. The dominant aura was quite evident in the way the man moved and in the scent that he emitted so freely. Alpha. Danger. His own instincts were starting to take over and Jihoon needed to focus in order to keep them under control.

“Why does everyone always speak that badly of the Exodus pack.” The mans deep voice cut through the room. The conversations in the room came to an abrupt end as the whole room focussed on the tall man that was now standing in front of Jihoon.

Gathering all the courage he had Jihoon spoke up, “Because of the damage they cause and the people they kill.” The tone of his voice was ice cold now, gone was all the animated warmth that he had talked with before and it shocked the people that surrounded him. “The Exodus pack is responsible for its own reputation.”

The tall alpha looked down at him and growled dangerously at him. “How dare you speak like that.”

It hit him in that moment who he was facing right now as all the information about the Exodus pack was soaring through his head.

\---

The men had been drinking more than normally that evening but the wine had tasted quite well that night and the music made them drink even more. Soon they had started singing about war and women. Long forgotten was the stranger in their middle as the information slipped past their normally thightly shut lips.

“I still can’t believe that we don’t travel further towards the freaking town when we were already this close.” One of the men complained. “Why kill the Vanghguard pack, lose our own men and then head back home. We should march on towards the real goal.”

“It’s orders from above Rowoon. Do you want to face the General?”

“Pff the General is a pussy. He probably can’t even fight an omega on his own. Those… Those stupid bodyguards of his always surround his fragile ass.” The man, clearly drunk, spat the words out furiously. “We risk our lives on a daily basis and he just orders us to retreat? What is he afraid of?! Ghosts?”

“The General simply has better plans than we do. Plans that require more intelligence than you have Rowoon.” The other man answered calmly, still not completely giving in to the alcohol that caused his comrades to slowly loosen up their tongues. “You should know better than to talk about their plans in enemy territory.”

“ENEMY TERRITORY? HAAAA!” Rowoon burst out. “We just defeated that enemy! I LOST MY FRIEND TO THAT ENEMY!” He tried to stand up but failed miserably and fell back down again, angering him even more. “I will personally KILL the General if he dares to complain.”

Jihoon turned away as the man sank down on his knees and started to wail. He had heard enough for tonight. Tomorrow he would move further. This was just the first group. He took his guitar, apologized to the only still slightly sane soldier and made his way over to his sleeping place for the night. His ancestors knew he needed it.

\---

“The General has given orders again. He says we need to evade the forest as much as possible.”

From his position high in the tree Jihoon could overhear the conversation below him. He had been traveling next to this band of soldiers for the last two days. The messenger had arrived just a few minutes earlier.

“We need to hunt! I can’t let my soldier starve.”

“The General says that the forest hides more dangers than we know. All of his scouts have disappeared. Rumours have caught up to him.” The messenger tried to tell his orders to the commander but the latter was having none of it.

“Which rumours? The stupid childhood stories that old witches tell their children?”

“Not every childhood story is made up, most of them contain a certain amount of truth.”

“What will the General do? Send one of his little pets towards us? All of his trusted ones are already busy.”

“Not all.”

“As if he will send Park Chanyeol after a measly commander.” The man shrugged his shoulders. “The tall one is probably to busy drinking somewhere while contemplating his life.” Jihoon felt his nose starting to itch. “The General has used him too much lately. While he is strong, he isn’t ruthless. I only once saw him losing his senses.” Jihoon couldn’t hold it back any longer and a loud sneeze echoed over the tents below him.

The rest of that day remained a blur to Jihoon, but the bruises told enough stories. Eleven soldiers and a messenger. He didn’t kill them though, he just bought enough time to get out. To get as far away as possible.

\---

While the last encounter with soldiers had made him more careful. His first encounter had thought him the power of music and wine. A combination that he embraced as he travelled throughout enemy territory as a bard. Most people wouldn’t try to hurt him. A small man, packed to the brim with a weird instrument and multiple bags of supplies. They wouldn’t see the weapons that he had hidden beneath his clothes.

Inns proved to be his best bet for gathering information. Townspeople like their rumours and more importantly they like to talk about them. The next weeks he learned more about the Exodus pack than he had learned in the past few years. The leader of the Exodus pack had left his previous pack together with eleven other people. Those twelve now made up the leadership of Exodus. The elite of the elite. And among them were some of the most dangerous people that Jihoon had ever heard about.

The first one he learned about was named Park Chanyeol. An incredibly tall alpha who was rumoured to be the third strongest among the Exodus pack. Defining features that everyone agreed on were his big ears and wide grin. But also his dominant aura that scared most people away. Despite that he was the one that couldn’t be completely ruthless. Except when his best friend and maybe even lover was in danger. Byun Baekhyun.

Other than Chanyeol Baekhyun was a mystery to Jihoon. The only thing he knew about the man was that he was an omega and that everyone thought that he had gone mad. The man was crazy, screwed and intelligent. Dangerous. Ruthless. Nuts. Strong. Weak. Tall. Short. Friendly. Beautiful. A sweet angel. Depending on who you asked the answer would differ greatly. The only answer Jihoon could think of was that the man had multiple personalities or something like that. Everything the learned about the man was the total opposite of what he thought he knew about him before.

Another mystery was the man called Do. Not even a full name. Nothing more than those two letters and a strong association towards the General.

For almost one month of traveling you would think that Jihoon would’ve found more information about him and the others. But he didn’t. Everything about the Exodus twelve was kept secret. Or maybe it wasn’t kept secret, people simply didn’t know. The only persons that they would see on a regular basis were Park Chanyeol or Jongin. The two henchmen of the General. 

\---

“Did I hurt your own pride or confidence? Or is it your moral sense that has taken a beating because of my words. You know they are the truth.” All the alarm bells in his head went off but he couldn't resist the urge to talk. When would he learn his lesson of angering alphas… Instead of lowering his head like most people would he dared to look up at the alpha as he muttered the next two words. “Park. Chanyeol.”

The man with his big ears and black messy hair seemed surprised and a bit taken aback. “How do you know my name.” The threating aura started to become overwhelming.

“I tend to hear things when I play music. I mean tall handsome man with big ears and very threatening aura is not a description that most alphas will fit in. They might be one of those or two, but not all of them.” Jihoon tried to sound as casual as possible while talking.

Chanyeol frowned at him, his aura slowly fading away as his interest in the little beta grew with every passing second. “Hmm… not many people recognize me despite that information.”

“Oh they all recognize you. They just choose not to speak up because they value their lives.” Jihoon deadpanned. The uncomfortable silence in the inn was broken by a sudden burst of laughter that came from no other than Park Chanyeol himself.

“You’re right!” He beamed and looked around. “I don’t need to travel in secret don’t worry everyone. I will just introduce myself.” Everyone was staring at the tall alpha in surprise. “My name is Park Chanyeol, I am one of the Twelve of the Exodus pack. Nice to meet you. Don’t worry I won’t hurt you. Before you ask, I also don’t eat children.” He looked the women next to him right in the eyes as he spoke the last few words to which she cowered away even further. “Woozi I like you!” He wrapped his arm around the small man next to him, developing him in a deathly embrace. “Please accompany me for a while in my travels. You might still find the family that you are looking for.”

To say Jihoon was stunned would be an understatement. He had been searching for information so desperately. This seemed to be a golden chance and he took it with both hands. The last month was suddenly completely worth it and all of his previous tiredness faded away. Chanyeol luckily didn’t seem to be the brightest mind and he could use that. Oh he would use that.

\---


	21. Chapter twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch out! Multi update (last update was chapter eighteen, now I'm going to start uploading from nineteen and further!  
> If you want to read more of this story, I normally post on AFF ;)

Chapter Twenty (twoteen): Black spells trouble

Jihoon had been sitting still at the edge of the forest for over an hour. The dewy forest floor turned his nice cloak into a useless piece of soggy nuisance. He stretched his fingers in an effort to bring them back to life. Despite the beautiful summer season, the night had been cold and the slight rain had soaked his clothes. He wondered why he was crouching on top of this hill for so long, staring at the distance where fires lit up the horizon in a display of warmth. He longed to sit at one of theosecampfires and indulge himself in the heat that the fires brought, to finally dry his wet garments and maybe eat warm food.

He was used to stalking outside in the cold, for he had travelled Grenhil forest even in the heart of winter. But in Grenhil he had used his beautiful fur coat that was lined with strong cured leather and wool. Most of the rain would’ve dripped off, besides in the forest would be several huts as shelter. Yet he wasn’t in the lands of his ancestors, instead he was camping on the edge of a strange forest, looking at the wooden palisades that reflexted the orange colour of the fires, surrounding a city he had never seen before. He had heard tales of this city, mostly it's surrender. Holstead was how the locals called this place. The wooden stronghold. Well it had proved to be a weak stronghold as the Exodus pack had trampled over the shitty wooden walls in less than one day. Destroying their army and ruining families. Although that wasn’t the story that he had heard from Chanyeol.

The version of the alpha talked about a glorious victory two years ago. In which he himself had played a vital role as he had been one of the first to burst through the wooden gatehouse. He swung around an axe and he had been the person that defeated the towns old head alpha. It hadn’t been pretty that was for sure as both versions of the story told the story of the same gruesome manner in which Chanyeols battle axe had split the head of the poor man in two. The fighting had seized and the resident pack surrendered. After that the stories differed greatly, Chanyeol talked about the peace that the Exodus reign brought to the city while others would tell stories of suppression, heavy taxes and forced labour. The Exodus pack had used Holstead as a base to conquer surrounding lands and to extend their influence on the known world. People had fled further north and to the far west, towards another stronghold that Jihoon knew quite well, Strenyard. Even before Jihoon had ordered Chan to help reinforce Strenyard it had been a real stronghold. The wooden wall that surrounded the town was strong, a deep ditch lay in front of it and the position on a steep hill helped defenders in case of an attack.

In his month of traveling with Chanyeol Jihoon had learned a lot about the plans of Exodus. One thing stood out the most, the annihilation of the Vanghguard pack had been a mere accident. It wasn’t meant to happen and it was actually a setback towards the real goal of the General. There should’ve been a surprise attack on Strenyard, but the massacre on the eastern mountainside had ruined their secrecy.

Yet one thing remained a mystery to Jihoon and that was why the Exodus pack kept trying to find new lands to conquer. Chanyeol, who was apparently inept at keeping secrets and therefore wasn’t told most of the more secret plans until they had to be carried out, in fear of him giving unnecessary information to enemies, but even Chanyeol had kept silent about the driving force of Exodus. Still Jihoon had grown rather fond of the strong, music loving, clumsy walking tree. He was a good travel companion for sure.

He sighed and stretched his arms above his head as he watched the horizon that had started changing colour now that the sun was finally rising in the east behind the mountain range that contained his own precious home. The soft morning light slowly spread over the treetops, the light leaving long gloomy shadows on the ground. However that landscape slowly changed as the sun rose higher and the raindrops that were still left behind on the various trees, grasses, bushes started to sparkle as the flowers turned their heads towards the orange warmth of the sun. For a minute he allowed himself to drown in the beautiful morning that unfolded in front of his eyes before turning his head back towards the town on the horizon. With the light enveloping the landscape the reason for his presence in the high mountains became visible. The campfires that were carefully tended to all night were now turning into embers as the fires reduced to nothing but ash, the sun would soon provide enough warmth and light for the daily activities.

Jihoon squatted down once again and let his eyes wander freely, taking in all the small movements below him in the valley. From his high place on a hill he could watch over the road that led towards the town that was now slowly waking up. The sentries that had watched the fires were replaced by men that had just woken up from a peaceful slumber. The palisade surrounding Holstead was calm and showed little of the town itself, but the plains surrounding Holstead were bristling with life. For the wide grasslands of the valley were filled with people, with soldiers, warriors. Holstead was the assembly point for the newly coined plan of the General. The plan that Chanyeol had spoiled to him yesterday after which he had immediately his message for Grenhil. It had cost him almost two months of time but he finally knew more about the immediate danger that Exodus posed to Strenyard and for his own pack. He felt tempted to change into his wolf form as that would’ve given him heightened senses that could’ve helped with mapping out the size of the army that filled the plains, but he didn't want to risk Chanyeol finding out his true nature. 

The armies size was remarkable and nothing like Jihoon had ever seen before, even Chanyeol had whistled in appreciation when he saw the encampment. Never before had an army of this size been assembled. Many of the soldiers were men from conquered towns that were forced to fight in order to gain more freedom for their respective packs and families. Most towns would crumble in fear when the army would march on their gates, but Jihoon couldn’t help it as he smiled to himself. Not Strenyard. Despite all of the Generals information about the pack in the north eastern mountains Strenyard was not surrounded by a wooden wall and a ditch, not if Jihoon could buy enough time. What the Exodus pack didn’t know was that Chan was reinforcing the city with high level masonry, the walls would be made of stone within a few months time as the skilled craftsmen of Grenhil and it’s surrounding villages were send to Strenyard. A little fire would not destroy the Strenyardian walls. Neither did the Exodus pack know about the fast provisions that Jihoon had let his pack members store in Strenyard.

The large army would starve long before the pack members of Strenyard would be forced to surrender. Theat was one big disadvantage of Exodus, because a larger army needed more food. And food was difficult to come by in enemy territory. Jihoon would make sure of it. The Exodus plan was to strike in autumn long before the cold northern winter would start. That was the biggest hurdle for Jihoon to tackle, as more time was needed for Chan to finish his work. More time… He needed to find a way to gain more time. If they could hold out until the winter was over, just a few months more…

He let his eyes roam the camp once more. There had to be weaknesses that he could exploit. However Jihoon had to be careful, he was alone. His eyes observed the army that rested on the plains, even more soldiers were joining in from all directions, having travelled through the night to cover the last miles that stood between them and the assembly point. Too many heads, too many horses, too many weapons shining in the sunlight, there were just too many…

Jihoon had seen enough for now, with as much dignity as his cold body could offer he stood up and made his way back towards his horse. Chanyeol was still asleep next to the smothering ashes that had been their own campfire. In his head the thought of killing Chanyeol right now lingered. That would mean that the army had one less person to lead them and it might slow down their march just enough. He was very tempted but just as he moved his hand towards the blade that hung on his hip the giant moved in his sleep. His innocent face lit up by a smile as he blabbered something incomprehensible and Jihoon just couldn’t do it. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and moved his hand to shake the sleeping man awake.

“Chanyeol, it is day. Do you want to go to the camp today or what?” He asked the man that was still trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. Yesterday they had stopped at this hill overlooking the town and the camp. Chanyeol wanted to wait with entering until it was daylight. But Jihoon suspected that he was simply observing the camp for any abnormalities that he would need to report to the General. He was also waiting for a companion that should arrive to Holstead very soon. Making Jihoon wonder who it would be since Chanyeol seemed very excited but also very alert.

The giant was still groaning in agony because of the early morning when Jihoon walked to Azur, his beautiful stallion who greeted him with a small nod of his head. Chanyeol had been amazed at the horse that never strayed from Jihoon, no line was needed to keep the horse nearby, of course that had lead to Chanyeol asking where he got the brown coated stallion with its proud stance.

“A friend of mine gave him to me, he did most of the training I merely adjusted a few commands that I liked.” To say Chanyeol had been amazed was an understatement and he demanded to meet the person that trained such animals. Jihoon could only shake his head and hope that there were no further inquiries, but he couldn’t help the fond smile on his face as he thought about Seungkwan. He missed his packmates more than he would ever admit. They were his family and his happiness. Chanyeol didn’t ask further upon seeing Jihoon lost in thought and had never asked about the stallion again.

From the saddlebags Jihoon fetched himself some bread and dried meat for breakfast as well as his guitar that he took with him. Music was what had made him meet Chanyeol and it was the interest that kept them both together for over a month. Chanyeol had insisted that he travelled with him towards Holstead, claiming that he might find some clues about his missing family over there. Meanwhile he was still under the illusion that Jihoons name was Woozi and that he had lost his family in the raging war. Not that Jihoon would enlighten him with the truth, for he feared the moment that Chanyeol found out about his lies.

A low rumble that counted as talking came from Chanyeol, “No Holstead.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes and moved a bit so he could smack the elder on the head. “Time to wake up idiot.”

Another groan arose from the tall man, “I am awake!” He said while sitting up tiredly

The sound of yet another slap on his head resounded in the early morning. “No your not, now go eat breakfast.”

As a response Chanyeol let himself fall back down again while sticking his tongue out at the short person in front of him.

“Fine… Whatever you want.” An annoyed Jihoon stood up and started gathering his belongings, stuffing them back into his saddle bags. The only thing he left out was his guitar that he took with him in his hands as he called for Azur to follow him with a simple gesture of his graceful hands. As he walked towards the hill that had served as his outpost all evening he heard the noises of Chanyeol finally waking up behind him. One thing he had learned quickly was how bad the giant was at getting up in the morning. With every day he seemed to resemble Mingyu a bit more and Jihoon grinned at that. He sat down and started strumming some random chords on his guitar. The melody got carried by the wind and on the road below him he saw a few travellers halt shortly to look up at him and wave. Music really brought people together he thought.

Footsteps in the grass behind him made him stop and look behind him, only to see Chanyeol leading his own horse into the sunlight that graced the hilltop. “You really have to teach me how to make a guitar.” He sat beside Jihoon as the other continued strumming the snares, creating new melodies that fitted the warm light brought by the summer morning and for now life suddenly seemed perfect.

“I could but for that I would need specialized tools that I don’t carry around.”

Chanyeol shrugged and stood up again. “You ready?” He offered Jihoon a hand to help him stand up.

“Ready for what exactly?”

“Hell.” Chanyeol said as he pointed to the road, a little convoy was racing towards Holstead, their horses in full on galop chasing after a lone person that rode in front of the rest. Their cloaks and hoods where all black and Jihoon suddenly felt nervous as he watched them advance further. He turned a questioning look to Chanyeol. “Trouble in human form. The all black clothing is given to household guards of the Exodus Twelve.” Jihoon raised an eyebrow as if asking why Chanyeols didn’t have black clothes or a guard but he didn’t voice his question. Chanyeol held his hand in front of his face trying to block the sunlight from blinding him while staring at the lone black figure. Even from their spot on the hill they could see the bright red hair waving in the wind.

Trouble was starting right now and Jihoon still had to figure out a way to stop this army to advance towards Strenyard. Without alarming them or bringing attention to Grenhil forest… Suddenly he wished that he wasn’t alone.


	22. Chapter twenty-one

Chapter twenty-one: The Two Faced Man

Chanyeol and Jihoon had soon after scrambled from the hill. Following the road that the black cloaked men had taken before them, leading straight into the busy town of Holstead. The townspeople were running about, trying to satisfy the needs of the ever growing mass of men outside their wooden gates.

In the centre of the town was a market, every building they passed was made out of wood and thatch and very flammable as Jihoon quickly noted. There was a certain stench in the town that originated from the rotten rooftops, animals and the trash that littered the muddy pools in what should be a street. Jihoon looked over to his left where Chanyeol was walking, or more like sliding through the mud. He scrunched his nose in disgust when he saw a woman emptying a bucket on the street, supplying his nose with yet another disgusting scent. After traveling through nature for weeks he wasn’t quite used to the stench of civilization. If you could really call it that…

In Grenhil and Strenyard the streets were clean. Especially in his home he had made sure that the streets were cleaned regularly. He didn’t need his surroundings to smell like a dumpster. As they neared the building that functioned as a makeshift town hall he saw a flag hanging in front the door. The flag was surely eye-catching with it’s black background and beautifully embroidered red rose with white accents, it was stunning.

Chanyeol came to a halt as he stared at the same flag Jihoon had been admiring, his face emotionless. Jihoon felt a spark of fear settle in his heart as he continued watching the rose. Inside this building was yet another high ranking Exodus Twelve member. He felt his heart sink at the mere thought of the destruction that this pack brought and the task that still lay ahead of him. Chanyeol saw his hesitation and caught a glimpse of his inner turmoil. A smile softened his already youthful appearance as he ruffled a hand through Jihoons hair. His encouragement was simple but effective. Jihoon had never been a person to like skinship of any kind and normally his reaction would be to smack the hand away. But right now his inner omega was happy with the act of kindness and the corners of his mouth lifted upwards gratefully.

A guard walked towards them after eyeing them suspiciously. “Do you need anything?”

That was his first mistake. The other was that he pointed his spear towards Jihoon. His last mistake was urging them to move over. Jihoon had watched over Chanyeol closely and saw how his hands had started twitching, his neck reddened and lastly how his face showed immense annoyance. Little did the poor guard know who he had just offended. It was too late anyways because Chanyeols huge body moved surprisingly fast as he took hold of the spear, pulling it backwards harshly, lifting the poor guard of the ground before smacking him into the mud.

“Do not, ever, talk to me or any of my companions like that again.” Chanyeols voice was a mere whisper, but even if he had shouted the treat couldn’t have had more impact for his voice was loaded with venom as he spoke. His appearance and aura were menacing.

“Chanyeol stop it please. You are frightening my men.” From the door of the town hall a man walked towards them, his appearance hidden underneath a black cloak and hood. Despite the shadows covering the man’s face Jihoon felt like he was being watched, as a pair of eyes locked on him, taking in every detail of his appearance. He felt uncomfortable and next to him Chanyeol was nervously skipping from one leg to another while never taking his eyes of the black cloaked man, but his hands still gripped the spear tightly. “Chanyeol. Let. Go.” The man spoke every word carefully, letting the words sink in before speaking further, yet still the alpha remained unmoving. The authority that the man possessed was a contrast to the fresh scent that lingered around him, telling everyone surrounding him that he was an omega.

“You aren’t supposed to be here.” Chanyeol finally found his voice. “You should’ve stayed at Elyxion.”

“I should’ve been near you, watching you! Making sure you don’t screw up again.”

“I am doi-…”

“Don’t even finish that sentence Park Chanyeol. I fucking dare you.” The man harshly intercepted him. “If it weren’t for your stupidity we would’ve long been at the gates of Strenyard. However your idiotic alpha pride got the better of you. It was completely unnecessary to attack that stupid pack!” The omega was fuming and pacing around in front of them, stepping from one muddy pool into another. “You weren’t at Elyxion, so you didn’t see the reaction of the other Twelve. It wasn’t pretty I can promise you that much.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“Oh no. If you did what you had to do you wouldn’t screw up every time I leave you alone for more than ten seconds.” It was at that moment that he shifted his full attention to Jihoon who was still gaping at him. “And who the hell is the midget next to you?”

Jihoon was about to start raging, angered by the stranger calling him that… that word, but Chanyeol was faster. “His name is Woozi and he is a bard that has been traveling with me.”

“A bard huh?” The stranger moved closer to Jihoon, shoving his hood backwards and finally letting the light hit his head as bright red hair sprung free from underneath the fabric. Instead of the frightening eyes that Jihoon had expected, a pair of warm golden eyes was looking at him curiously. “I think you are more than that.” His voice was suddenly rather sweet and laced with a youthful innocence.

Jihoon knocked on the bag that hung over his back, “Well I am no real bard, but I do travel and make music to lighten the mood.”

“And your name was Woozi…” The golden eyed stranger was testing the name on his tongue. “Woozi, quite an unique name you have there. Where are you from that they give you such names?”

There it was… To be honest this was the reaction that Jihoon expected when telling people his chosen name. Yet he wasn’t really in the mood to describe the origins of the nickname, Jeonghans mocking laugh was still fresh in his memory. He felt his face redden as he mumbled, “It… n.. name.”

“What?” The man was glaring at him, his previously curious eyes darkening and the innocence fading in a split second. The menacing aura was once again present, defying the peaceful scent that surrounded the omega.

Jihoon took a deep breath, it was better to tell the truth, “It’s a nickname… In my original language it’s shorter for our Jihoonie.” He was now bright red and he wished that the ground would devour him already, helping him out of his newfound misery.

“Aw how cute! You didn’t tell me that!” Chanyeol fawned next to him.

His embarrassment was quickly forgotten as he shot Chanyeol a glare that could kill, leading the tall alpha to raise up his arms in surrender.

“I take it back, not cute at all. Sorry. Pardon. Please spare me.” He pleaded to the short male. 

Meanwhile the stranger was amusing himself as he watched the two travellers bicker, his curiosity about Jihoon was sated for the moment. So his attention sprung back to his original target. “Chanyeol. You are under my command during the next few months.”

Chanyeol straightened up immediately, “Yes Baekhyun sir.”

“Inside. Now.” Baekhyun took one further glance at Jihoon before beckoning Chanyeol to follow him, the latter sending a silent sorry towards Jihoon who was left alone in the middle of the street.

Shaking his head in slight confusion at his situation Jihoon started walking towards the market that they had passed earlier when they made their way over to the town hall. The nausea that still swept through his system made him nearly vomit as he saw the different goods on display. At least now he knew where that devilish smell of rotten food came from… Never trust merchants, they will sell you everything to make a living and no.... they don’t charge fair prices. Food was in high demand at Holstead with troops that covered the entire horizon just outside the town, but that didn’t do anything good to the quality of the food. Jihoon pinched his nose with one of his hands at a particularly strong scent that originated from the remains of a fish. Hygiene was obviously not high priority in this town.

As the stench got worse, his nausea got the better of him and he chose to flee from the close quarters of the wooden town and into the grassy plains outside the wooden palisade. With the smell gone from his nostrils he felt his stomach calm down. No way that Jihoon would enter that town again, willingly, if it wasn’t for a good reason.

Back to the task at hand. How to stop an army that outnumbered you with several hundreds if not thousands without dying in the process. Jihoon let his mind go over several possibilities. He could of course free the horses and let them run away to slow the marching speed. That could work, until they utilized their wolf forms of course. He let out a heavy sigh. Wolf forms wouldn’t allow them to take their supplies with them, so an army without supplies. It could work. His eyes wandered over the fields in front of him where a herd of horses was held behind a make shift fence. Opening that wasn’t a lot of work but there was no way that a significant amount of horses would flee before the watchmen were alarmed of their escape. No it wouldn’t work, not if he was alone.

Then again that last part was the problem for most of his plans. Burn the food supply, sure, but how many supply carts could one man burn down before he was busted. That would firstly require a decent distraction, of which Jihoon had none and then multiple people armed with torches to set everything ablaze.

It was impossible. If only he had a decent following of his own, everything would’ve been easier. He felt stupid now. He had send his bird flying, with a message, but without a request for help and without anyone knowing where exactly he was. Good job Jihoon, you totally owe this one to yourself!

Totally lost in his thoughts he found himself lost in the middle of the camp as he bumped into someone.

“Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings.” He apologized as quickly as he saw large alpha staring down at him, his face spelling trouble.

“All betas are the same, you puny little incompetent shits. They shouldn’t allow your kind in an army.” The man spit in his direction and if not for his excellent reflexes Jihoons leather boots would’ve been hit. Around him he saw several people, betas judging from their lack of a defined scent, stepping back from the angered alpha and his supposed next victim. That would’ve been Jihoons kind of luck, bumping into the alpha with anger issues and an inferiority complex. Said alpha was now hollering at him, perceiving his quietness as fear.

The next few actions went really quick. The alpha stepped forward, wanting to strike Jihoon down with a strong fist aimed at his head. The latter just ducked and in one movement hit the alpha with a strong jab in his stomach, followed by two quick strikes to his neck and the side of his head. The result of their little exchange was the alpha falling face down to the ground, with Jihoon straightening out his cloak next to him. This all took less than five seconds.

The alpha was left on the muddy ground to fend for himself while everyone else scurried away to do whatever they were supposed to be doing. A group of betas saw their new hero and champion in Jihoon and they quickly invited him to sit with them at their campfire, an invite that he gladly took. Never decline a good opportunity to get more information. Or free food. Especially free food.

And so Jihoon found himself sitting in an inviting circle of betas and alphas that had gathered around a campfire. Next to the fire where some smothering heaps of ash with different pots placed over them, spreading the rich scent of stew through the air. As they were eating he found himself listening to the different stories that were being told.

“I saw a raven fly from the east in the morning we were attacked by the Exodus pack. It is a bad omen I can tell you that much.”

“Seriously? One raven? That is the most normal thing in the world.”

“You are clearly not educated in the Religion of Old… It wasn’t a normal raven! It was send by our ancestors as a warning.”

“And what makes this raven so special Mark?”

“Oh come on! I have told you this before. It was a WHITE raven! A white one!”

Jihoon was listening attentively. “You mean the Religion of the Moon?”

The man called Mark looked in his direction with puppy eyes. “You know of it?”

“It’s the old religion of my pack and we still have some rituals that date back to the old times.” Jihoon nodded.

Marks face was hopeful now, “So you believe me that it was a sign of my ancestors?”

“Eh…” Jihoon scratched the back of his neck. One of the other men at the fire saw his unease and butted in again.

“Don’t bother him with your hopeful fantasies Mark. If it where the Ancestors of Old than they could’ve done better than send one damned raven.”

“But Tae!” Mark tried to barge in.

“Stop it Mark. Whether you like it or not, your village was destroyed and we are here now. If that was a sign of the Ancestors than so be it, but than they also dictated your fate to be like this. I don’t even want to believe in that cruelty.”

There were tears in the eyes of the young man now. “We chose to ignore the warning… That was our own mistake, not of the Old.”

The other rolled his eyes. “Sure… Believe whatever you want. Maybe next you can believe in the Cursed Forest.”

That sparked Jihoons interest. “Cursed Forest?”

The man turned around to face Jihoon as if he couldn’t understand how Jihoon was this uneducated. “The Cursed Forest of the North? The one that the Twelve want us to march through towards fucking Strenyard.”

The men around the campfire started whispering and Jihoon felt their fear rising. Mark was on his feet once again. He tried to hush the other, “Taeyong! I know that you don’t care about the Ancestors of Old or the Religion of the Moon but the Cursed Forest isn’t a joke!” He moved to Jihoon and sat down next to him. “The Cursed Forest was next to my village…” he whispered, “And it really is cursed. No one that crossed into the forest comes out alive!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t let children wander into a forest were they get lost?” Taeyong butted in as he leaned back on his arms. “Curses don’t exist.”

“THEY DO!” Another man joined in with Mark now. “Haven’t you heard of it? In my village we had a different name for it, we called it the Cursed Mountains instead.”

Jihoon saw an opportunity arise and with it his earlier misery was gone. “So we are to travel through it?”

“That is one of the reasons that moral is this low.” Mark was still whispering next to him for some unknown reason.

It was time to light up the spark and ignite the fire, Jihoon thought. “I think I’ve heard of it actually, but under a different name.” He sat himself upright, perfectly grabbing the attention of everyone around the campfire. “We called it the Forest of the Death. According to the legends the forest was used as a hideout for omegas that fled from their packs. But they had no way of surviving in the dangerous place that was the forest. They all slowly died from diseases, starvation, cold and if they were lucky they got a quicker death by wild animals…”

“What do stupid dying omegas have to do with curses? Traveling the forest alone is already stupid enough if you can’t defend yourself.” Taeyong mocked. .

Jihoon had to supress his irritation before he answered, “Everything. It’s anger and revenge that fuel the most powerful curses. They died cursing everyone that laughed and mocked them. Alphas, betas and omegas alike. Hence the forest became a trap to everyone that enters.”

“I believe him.” Mark said, “That forest is unnatural I can tell you that much! It always gave me chills to walk close to it. It’s as if a thousand eyes are continuously watching you!”

Little did they know that eyes would’ve indeed followed them around if they went into the forest but Jihoon wasn’t going to tell them that. Mark soon got others on his hand that had also lived in close quarters to the Cursed Forest, or how Jihoon called it: home, the Grenhil Forest.

“I am not going there.” A man said on the other side of the campfire. “I’m not risking my live for the pack that destroyed my own family.”

More men agreed with him, telling stories of how the Exodus pack had burned homes and tore families apart. Jihoon listened to everything they told him, meanwhile soaking up any useful information.

“I heard that Chanyeol and Baekhyun arrived in Holstead today.” Taeyong had been silent for a long time but now he had everyone’s attention again. “If you’re planning to flee from here you better do it quickly because I fear that we are marching to Strenyard very soon.”

That reminded Jihoon of his travel companion that he maybe should seek out again and so he thanked the men for their food and company before leaving the camp. He went back to the edge of the forest, expecting Chanyeol to search for him at the place where they had previously camped. Meanwhile his brain was creating his plan of action, having gained some information and inspiration.

His weapon wouldn’t be fire, hunger or anything of that sorts. It would be fear, he would feed the superstitions of the soldiers. The Cursed Forest would have to live up to its name again. A devilish grin spread over his soft features. For now he would wait until they marched. Once he was close enough to the forest he would’ve to find the scouts and hopefully Jeonghan had send some powerful reinforcements to the north.

The Exodus Pack might be strong but sometimes sheer force wasn’t enough. They wouldn’t have to fight men. No they would’ve to fight ghosts and curses that lived in the minds of their men. A very capable opponent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Multi update! I started updating at chapter eighteen (or 19 according to ao3).


End file.
